World's 22 richest men have more wealth than all 325million women in Africa

The 22 richest men in the world have more wealth than all 325 million women in Africa, a damning report by Oxfam finds today.

The charity found the world's 2,153 billionaires had more wealth than 4.6 billion people in 2019 - with Amazon's Jeff Bezos topping the list.

And the richest 1% hold 45% of the world's wealth. Together they could raise enough money to create 117million jobs in a decade if they just paid 0.5% extra tax.

Oxfam's British chief executive Danny Sriskandarajah said: “When 22 men have more wealth than all the women in Africa combined, it’s clear that our economy is just plain sexist.

“One way that our upside-down economic system deepens inequality is by chronically undervaluing care work – usually done by women, who are often left little time to get an education, earn a decent living or have a say in how our societies are run, and are therefore trapped in poverty.

“If world leaders meeting this week are serious about reducing poverty and inequality, they urgently need to invest in care and other public services that make life easier for those with care responsibilities, and tackle discrimination holding back women and girls.”

Oxfam compared the Forbes' 2019 Billionaires List to the total wealth of all African women aged 20 and over, including all women, not just the poorest 50%.

Forbes' list is topped by Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos with a net worth of £101bn.

He is followed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

The top 22 also includes Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Sergey Brin and Presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg. 18 of the 20 richest people are men.

Oxfam's Time to Care report calculated that all the women in Africa, rich or poor, hold around £951bn in wealth. The 22 richest male billionaires hold £976bn.

The charity said if someone had saved $10,000 a day since Egypt's pyramids were built in 2,500 BC, they would still only have a fifth of the average wealth of the five richest billionaires.

And if the two richest men in the world stacked all their wealth in $100 bills and sat on it, they would be sitting in outer space.

Oxfam said the findings illustrate how "inequality continues to be at crisis levels with wealth valued over work and the contribution of women under-rewarded".

The report was also published ahead of the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, when some of the world's most wealthy and influential people descend on Davos in Switzerland.

It also came as Boris Johnson hosted an African investment summit in London, where the UK announced £620m in finance to support UK exports to the continent.

Oxfam is urging governments to crack down on tax loopholes and get the richest 1% to pay extra taxes.

It also calls for investments in water and sanitation, electricity, childcare and public healthcare, which they say could save African women significant time.

The charity found that improved water sources in parts of Zimbabwe could save women up to four hours of work a day.

And women and girls were putting in 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work every day.

Oxfam India chief executive Amitabh Behar told Reuters: "The hidden engine of the economy that we see is really the unpaid care work of women. And that needs to change."

Behar highlighted a woman called Buchu Devi in India who spends 16 to 17 hours a day doing work like fetching water after trekking two miles, cooking, preparing her children for school and working in a poorly paid job.

"And on the one hand you see the billionaires who are all assembling at Davos with their personal planes, personal jets, super rich lifestyles," he said.

"This Buchu Devi is not one person. I in India encounter these women on a daily basis, and this is the story across the world. We need to change this, and certainly end this billionaire boom."