A song and a quiz show ask, "Who wants to be a millionaire?" A million dollars was the goal of the super-rich. Now, it is a billion dollars. The anti-poverty charity Oxfam has said that in the next ten years, the world will have its first trillionaire. A trillion is a huge number. It is a one, followed by 12 zeros. It is equal to one million million. Oxfam said the wealth gap between the rich and poor is growing. The gap "supercharged" after the coronavirus pandemic. It added: "We will have a trillionaire within a decade, whereas to fight poverty, we need more than 200 years."
Oxfam's report is about inequality. It said the wealth of the world's five richest people has increased by 114 per cent since 2020. It added: "The top five billionaires have doubled their wealth. On the other hand, almost five billion people have become poorer." Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the world's richest man. His fortune is just under $250 billion. The AP news agency said someone with a trillion-dollar milestone would "have the same value as oil-rich Saudi Arabia". Oxfam said the world will see a "decade of division". It wants a "new era of public action" to reduce the wealth gap.
Try the same news story at these levels:
Trillionaire - Level 0, Trillionaire - Level 1 or Trillionaire - Level 3
Sources- https://apnews.com/article/income-inequality-billionaires-davos-85baf23e9a2a7d4d94da5aca11f3ca5e
- https://time.com/6555516/first-trillionaire-oxfam-report-billionaire-inequality/
- https://news.sky.com/story/worlds-richest-men-double-their-wealth-in-three-years-as-oxfam-warns-of-first-trillionaire-13048652
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