Ex-World Leaders Urge Global Action to Tackle Extreme Inequality Amid Rise of Trillionaires

A group of 40 former world leaders, including ex-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has called for urgent global cooperation to address rising inequality and poverty as the prospect of the world’s first trillionaires looms. The leaders’ letter, organized by Club de Madrid with support from Oxfam and the People’s Medicines Alliance, warns that nearly half of humanity still lives in poverty while wealth concentration accelerates.

The letter condemns “narrow unilateralism” and the outdated post-World War II economic framework, urging comprehensive debt relief, international tax cooperation, and reforms to institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. Among the signatories are notable figures like Helen Clark (New Zealand), José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain), and Nobel laureates José Ramos-Horta and Óscar Arias.

Highlighting the global crisis, the letter states that 3.3 billion people live in countries spending more on debt interest than on education or health, while climate breakdown outpaces green transitions. The former leaders emphasize that multilateralism—the cooperative global system established after two world wars—is faltering amid rising violence and geopolitical instability.

Despite the grim outlook, the group expresses hope for a “powerful shift” through a “new economic coalition of the willing” to combat inequality, poverty, and human rights abuses. They call for restoring development aid, implementing global minimum taxes on multinational profits, and leveraging upcoming international forums such as the G20 in South Africa and COP30 in Brazil to advance their agenda.