FACT CHECK THIS: The COVID19 Pandemic Created The Fastest & Largest Wealth Transfer in Human History

Original Source Web Address (URL):


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Description Of Claim To Be Checked


Posts on social media and other media sources have highlighted that a result of policies set by governments around the world in response to COVID19 was a huge wealth transfer away from the poorest and towards the richest in society. Other sources have claimed that many new millionaires were created as as result of COVID19. Are both claims true? Or neither?

This article from October 2020, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) states that:

More than 16 million cases of COVID-19 were confirmed between April and July of this year, there were nearly 630,000 related deaths, and the world’s richest people got about $2 trillion richer.

and that:

News of the windfall for this elite club of roughly 2,000 members comes alongside indications of trillions of dollars in lost wages, and warnings that hundreds of millions of people will be pushed into extreme poverty this year as a result of the pandemic.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) stated in September 2020 that:

Global labour income is estimated to have declined by 10.7 per cent, or US$ 3.5 trillion, in the first three quarters of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019. This figure excludes income support provided through government measures.

This topic seems to have gained attention in 2020 and then not been discussed much publicly after that - could the topic have been shut down?

Crowd Facts community, please help us understand the economic effects of COVID19, any wealth transfer that has been taking place and who might be motivated to manipulate the public conversation surrounding COVID19, it's treatments and the policies that governments have been making.

Claims Made By Source


The original tweet that highlighted the wealth transfer (linked above) has received 1924 likes and around 850 retweets at the time of making this post. Two main claims are made:

  • That workers around the world lost $3.7 trillion due to COVID policies, while billionaires gained a similar amount or more (suggesting a direct wealth transfer from workers to billionaires).
  • That this is the fastest and largest wealth transfer in history.

The tweet also points out that 'nobody wants to talk about it' - so bonus points for showing whether discussion of this topic has been receiving continual coverage in the media or whether it has been buried.

Relevant Sources



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