KATHMANDU, Jan 21: Economic inequality in Nepal widened sharply in 2025, with the country’s richest one percent holding 519 times more wealth than half of the poorest population, according to a new report by Oxfam International.
Unveiling its report titled Resisting the Rule of the Rich, Oxfam said the poorest 50 percent of Nepal’s population controls just 4.7 percent of total national wealth, while the richest one percent alone owns 24.5 percent. The disparity highlights a “severe structural imbalance” in wealth distribution, the organisation said.
Oxfam, an international confederation of 21 non-governmental organisations working in more than 90 countries, noted that living conditions for a large section of Nepal’s population have continued to deteriorate. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of people facing severe food insecurity in Nepal increased by 40 percent. Currently, an estimated 36.6 percent of Nepalis are experiencing food insecurity, the report said.
Richest 10 % Nepalis over 26 times wealthier than poorest 40 %
The organisation linked rising inequality to growing public frustration, pointing to youth-led Gen Z protests as a reflection of discontent over inequality, corruption and the long-term impacts of austerity policies. According to the report, these pressures have contributed to political instability and regime change in the country.
“From Madagascar to Malaysia, Nepal to France and the US, people are leading a wave—less a ripple and more a tsunami—of global protests,” the report stated. It added that the protests are challenging corrupt governments that prioritise profit over people and enable the dominance of the super-wealthy over public life.
Oxfam also raised concerns about widening inequality at the global level. It said the collective wealth of billionaires rose by $2.5 trillion last year, nearly matching the total wealth held by the poorest half of the world’s population, or 4.1 billion people.
The report noted that billionaires wield disproportionate political influence, holding an estimated 4,000 times more political power than ordinary citizens, contributing to growing political inequality.
Between 2020 and 2025, global billionaire wealth increased by 81 percent, Oxfam said. During the same period, one in four people worldwide lacked regular access to sufficient food, while nearly half of the global population lived in poverty.
In 2025 alone, billionaire wealth rose by more than 16 percent to a record US $183 trillion—three times faster than the average growth rate of the past five years—marking the fastest expansion of billionaire wealth in modern history, the report said.
