State of Wealth

Number of billionaires around the world in 2019, by wealth source

This statistic shows the number of billionaires worldwide in 2019, by wealth source. In 2019, 1,639 billionaires worldwide were fully self-made

self made billionares worldwide

This statistic presents the estimated net worth of the 20 richest people in America as of March 2020. At this time Jeff Bezos was the richest man in the United States with an estimated net worth of 113 billion U.S. dollars.

Richest people in the United States – additional information

Every year since 1982, the American business magazine Forbes has been compiling lists of the 400 richest people in the United States, known as the “Forbes 400.” In addition to that, since 1987, the publication has also been compiling a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world (excluding royalty and dictators), as well as more specialized tops, such as “World’s Most Powerful Women,” “America’s Richest Families,” “Most Valuable Brands” or “30 Under 30,” which focuses on young entrepreneurs from various fields which have gained millions in the past year by the use of social media, technical innovations and generally new and fresh approaches to business.

In 2012 Forbes also implemented an online real-time tracker of the wealth of the world’s top 50 billionaires, which provides daily net worth figures.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2021, Greater China housed the most billionaires worldwide in 2021. In detail, Greater China topped the list with a billionaire population of 1,058 people. By comparison, 696 billionaires resided in the United States. India, Germany, and the United Kingdom were also the homes of a significant number of billionaires that year.

United States lost its first place

As the founder and exporter of consumer capitalism, it is no surprise that the United States is home to a large number of billionaires. However, the United States has lost their place as the country with the most billionaires in the world to China. This rise of billionaires in China has coincided with the liberalization of its economy and successive high growth rates. However, North America still leads the way in terms of the highest number of ultra high net worth individuals – those with a net worth of more than fifty million U.S. dollars. The prominence of Europe and North America is a reflection of the higher degree of economic development in those states . However, this may also change with China being set to close the gap on the United States

Female billionaires

Moreover, the small proportion of female billionaires does little to counter critics claiming the global economy is dominated by an elite comprised mainly of men. Neither the United States nor China could surpass South Korea with a mere twenty percent to break into the top 10 countries by percentage of female billionaires worldwide. Moreover, recent political discourse has put a great amount of attention on the wealth held by the super-rich with the wealth distribution of the global population being heavily unequal.

In 2019, New York had the largest number of ultra wealthy individuals (UHNW), reaching 10,435 people. In Hong Kong, 9,950 ultra wealthy individuals resided, followed by Tokyo with 7,800 lived individuals.

As of February 2021, Jeff Bezos had a net worth valued at 189.3 billion U.S. dollars, making him the richest man in the world. The net worth of Elon Musk reached 182.2 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Bernard Arnault and family (157.7 billion U.S. dollars).

The statistic presents leading private banks worldwide in 2019, by assets under management. UBS led the ranking in that year, with managed assets amounting to approximately 2.4 trillion U.S. dollars.

Private banks

Private banking refers primarily to financial and investment services offered by banks to their high net worth clients. The conventional value of net worth needed for a person to be qualified as HNW individual is one million U.S. dollars.

With large value of assets under management, and with consent of their HNW clients, private banks can access a wider range of investment possibilities including alternative investments such us hedge funds . Such non-traditional investments are usually not available to the regular bank clients due to the high minimum investment threshold. Also, such investments are much more risky than the traditional ones and without help of a financial advisor a person not knowledgeable about the financial markets could lose a big part of the invested money.

The disadvantages of the non-traditional investments are volatility, lack of transparency and liquidity. On the other hand, the benefits of investing money in alternative are, among others, possibility of outperforming the markets and getting protection in times of downturn in the equity markets.

Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management division proved to be the largest wealth manager in terms of value of managed assets in 2020, with managed assets reaching 1.35 trillion U.S. dollars. Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management division and J.P. Morgan Private Bank followed behind with 1.26 trillion and 774 billion U.S. dollars, respectively.

This statistic lists the richest individuals involved in the global real estate industry as of June 2020, by net worth. Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-shing, who is also an investor and philanthropist, led the list with an estimated net worth of 28.7 billion U.S. dollars. American businessman Donald Bren, owner of the Irvine Company, came in fifth place with an estimated net worth of 14.8 billion U.S. dollars.