Oxfam report says over 16 crore more people forced into poverty in two years of pandemic

Study showed that the pandemic has set gender parity back from 99 years to now 135 years, with women collectively losing $800 billion in earnings

The first two years of the pandemic saw incomes of 99% of humanity fall and over 16 crore people were forced into poverty even as the world's ten richest men saw their fortune more than double to $1.5 trillion (over ₹111 lakh crore) at a rate of $1.3 billion (₹9,000 crore) a day, a new study showed on Monday.

In its report titled 'Inequality Kills' released on the first day of the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda summit, Oxfam International further said inequality is contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day, or one person every four seconds.

This is a conservative finding based on deaths globally from lack of access to healthcare, gender-based violence, hunger, and climate breakdown, it added.