The number of billionaires worldwide has reached 3,228, a new record, according to a study by the Hurun Research Institute.
The combined capital of the richest people on the planet as of January 15 this year soared by 32 percent (from 3.5 to 14.7 trillion dollars). The richest man in the world was named the head of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, with a fortune of $ 197 billion. He is followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($ 189 billion). In third place was Bernard Arnault, President of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy ($ 114 billion).
Followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates ($ 110 billion), Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg ($ 101 billion) and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett ($ 91 billion). The top ten also includes the owner of Nongfu Spring bottled water producer Zhong Shanshan ($ 85 billion).
China remains the leader in the number of billionaires. If 696 rich people live in the United States, then in China – 1058 (259 more than a year ago). China and the United States account for more than half of all billionaires in the world. India is in third place with 177 billionaires. It is noted that the number of women billionaires has grown to 231, more than 60 percent of them live in China.
Russia is on the seventh line of the rating. The country is home to 85 billionaires (their total fortune is $ 393 billion). The study says that the most lucrative areas for the richest Russians are energy and metallurgy. One of the main owners of Norilsk Nickel, Vladimir Potanin ($ 29 billion), has been named the wealthiest Russian.
The combined wealth of the richest Russians in January-February increased by $ 18.291 billion.