Explained | Can Elon Musk’s wealth really end world hunger?

The wealth of various billionaires has risen significantly since the onset of the pandemic, while in many developing countries, people were pushed back into poverty

Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk challenged the World Food Programme (WFP) to explain how $6 billion of his wealth would “solve world hunger.” The billionaire’s tweet, in response to a fact-check of a claim made by the WFP’s director, has brought back focus on the issues of inequality and global hunger.

WFP director David Beasley in an interview last week claimed that just a fraction of the wealth owned by billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk could literally save millions of people from imminent death due to hunger. In particular, he claimed that $6 billion could save 42 million people from dying of hunger. This figure is said to represent around 2% of Elon Musk’s total wealth. In response to this claim, Elon Musk that he would be willing to sell his shares in his company if WFP can explain to him how his wealth would put an end to hunger in the world.