Africa’s wealth disparity has reached unprecedented levels, with just four billionaires now holding more wealth than 750 million people combined – half the continent’s population.
According to a report from Oxfam entitled Africa’s Inequality Crisis and the Rise of the Super-Rich, released on Thusday, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, South Africans Johann Rupert and Nicky Oppenheimer and Egyptian businessman Nassef Sawiris control a combined $57.4 billion (€49.07bn).
This staggering concentration of wealth highlights the deepening inequality across the continent, the report warns.
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Since the year 2000, when Africa had no billionaires, their number has risen to 23 today, with their combined wealth increasing by 56 per cent over the past five years, reaching $112.6 billion.
The richest 5 percent of Africans now hold nearly $4 trillion – more than double the combined wealth of the remaining 95 percent of the population.
“This growing divide is exacerbating poverty, threatening economic development and undermining democratic governance,” the report adds.
Policy failures
The report also examines how government policies across Africa have failed to address this inequality. African governments collect just 0.3 percent of GDP in wealth taxes – the lowest rate globally – and this share has fallen by nearly 25 per cent in the past decade.
Meanwhile, governments raise almost three times more revenue from indirect taxes such as VAT, which disproportionately impact poorer citizens.
The majority of African countries with active International Monetary Fund and World Bank loans cut spending on essential services such as education, health and social protection in 2023 and 2024 in order to meet debt repayments.
Illicit financial flows further drain resources, with an estimated $88.6bn leaving the continent annually.
“These policies continue to favour the wealthy elite while essential public services are starved of funding,” the report reads.
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Social and political consequences
Oxfam reports that almost 850 million Africans are now moderately or severely food insecure, an increase of 20 million since 2022.
Seven out of 10 people living in extreme poverty worldwide are in Africa today, compared to just one in 10 in 1990. Men hold three times more wealth than women, representing the widest gender wealth gap globally.
Political participation is also undermined in some countries. In Nigeria, for example, the high cost of entering politics and widespread vote-buying restrict democratic representation, favouring wealthy elites.
“Africa’s wealth is not missing,” Fati N’Zi-Hassane, director of Oxfam in Africa, said in a statement. “It’s being siphoned off by a rigged system that allows a small elite to amass vast fortunes while denying hundreds of millions even the most basic services. This is an utter policy failure — unjust, avoidable and entirely reversible.”
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Taxing the super-rich
To tackle the problem, Oxfam says modest tax reforms to fund essential services are needed across the continent.
It points out that a 1 percent increase in wealth tax and a 10 percent rise in income tax on the richest 1 percent could generate $66bn annually, equivalent to 2.29 percent of Africa’s GDP.
This would be sufficient to close critical gaps in free quality education and universal electricity access, the report adds.
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Citing a number of examples, Oxfam points out that some African countries have shown that fairer tax systems are possible. Morocco and South Africa collect 1.5 percent and 1.2 percent respectively of their GDP from property taxes – among the highest rates on the continent.
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In the Seychelles, since 2000 the poorest half of the population have increased their income share by 76 percent, while the richest 1 percent have lost two-thirds of theirs. Seychelles also guarantees universal healthcare, free education and a robust welfare system.
Despite these examples, many African governments have backtracked on tax policies, labour rights and the minimum wage since 2022, risking the continuation of poverty and inequality.
The report warns that without decisive action to tax the super-rich and invest in the majority, Africa risks perpetuating instability and economic hardship for decades to come.
