Top 25 Countries With The Most Billionaires

Written by Carly Hallman

Which country has the most billionaires? The answer, by far, is the United States, with 565 billionaires, from Jeff Bezos to Larry Page to Michael Bloomberg. But while the U.S. is the country with the most billionaires, there are plenty of places around the world that are home to some of the wealthiest people. Here’s our list of billionaires by country and where they’re living around the globe.

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Top 25 Countries with the Most Billionaires (And Who They Are)

Country Number of Billionaires Richest Person in that Country
United States 565 Jeff Bezos
How: Entrepreneur
Company: Amazon
Net Worth: $110.7 billion
Self-Made
China 319 Wang Jianlin
How: Real Estate
Company: Dalian Wanda Group
Net Worth: $25.5 billion
Self-Made
Germany 114 Bette Heister
How: Inheritance
Company: Aldi
Net Worth: $31.1 billion
India 101 Mukesh Ambani
How: Refining Oil
Company: Reliance Industries Limited
Net Worth: 41.3 billion
Self-Made
Russia 96 Leonid Mikhelson
How: Gas
Company: Novatek
Net Worth: $18.4 billion
Self-Made
Hong Kong 67 Li Ka-shing
How: Entrepreneur, Investing
Company: Cheung Kong Holdings
Net Worth: $36.7 billion
Self-Made
United Kingdom 54 S.P. Hinduja
How: Investing
Company: Hinduja Group
Net Worth: $21 billion
Self-Made
Brazil 43 Jorge Paulo Lemann
How: Investing
Company: 3G Capital
Net Worth: $29.7 billion
Self-made
Italy 42 Maria Franca Fissolo
How: Inheritance (Marriage)
Company: Ferrero
Net Worth: $32.3 billion
Canada 39 David Thomson
How: Inheritance, Media
Company: Reuters
Net Worth: $27.2 billion
France 38 Bernard Arnault
How:
Company: LVMH
Net Worth: $69.2 billion
South Korea 38 Lee Kun-hee
How: Inheritance, Business
Company: Samsung
Net worth: $7.2 billion
Switzerland 36 Ernesto Bertarelli
How: Pharmaceuticals, Investing
Company: Waypoint Capital, Merck-Serono
Net worth: $9 billion
Australia 33 Gina Rinehart
How: Inheritance, Mining
Company: Hancock Prospecting
Net worth: $8.5 billion
Japan 33 Masayoshi Son
How: Entrepreneur, Telecommunications
Company: Softbank
Net worth: $23 billion
Self-made
Sweden 31

Stefan Persson

How: Inheritance, Investing
Company: H&M
Net worth: $18.9 billion

Taiwan 31 Terry Gou
How: Entrepreneur, Electronics
Company: Foxconn
Net worth: $10.6 billion
Self-Made
Turkey 29 Murat Ülker
How: Food
Company: Yıldız Holding
Net worth: $3.9 billion
Self-Made
Spain 25 Amancio Ortega
How: Clothing
Company: Inditex (Zara)
Net worth: $76.1 billion
Self-Made
Singapore 21 Robert and Philip Ng
How: Inheritance, Real Estate
Company: Sino Group
Net worth: $9.7 billion
Indonesia 20 Robert Budi Hartono
How: Tobacco
Company: Djarum
Net worth: $12.6 billion
Self-made
Thailand 20 Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi
How: Beverages
Company: ThaiBev
Net worth: $19.9 billion
Self-made
Israel 18 Eyal Ofer
How: Inheritance, Shipping
Company: Ofer Global
Net worth: $9.7 billion
Mexico 15 Carlos Slim Helú
How: Business, Investing
Company: Telmex, Grupo Carso
Net worth: $69.2 billion
Self-made
Philippines 14 Henry Sy
How: Business, Investing
Company: SM Group
Net worth: $21.7 billion
Self-made

First off, how many billionaires are there in the world? The answer is 1,550 total, according to UBS. Only eight individuals at the top of this list of billionaires own the same amount of wealth as half of the population of the world. Those men are Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Amancio Ortega, Mark Zuckerberg, Carlos Slim, Larry Ellison, and Michael Bloomberg. Six of the eight are American. The top earner, Bill Gates, is due to perhaps someday become the world’s first trillionaire, as he’s currently worth around $86 billion; however, he frequently gives his money away via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Of the official billionaire’s list, 130 are above the illustrious $10 billion mark. There also happen to be 36 million millionaires around the world. That seems like a lot until you remember that the world’s population is 7.6 billion people; billionaires represent roughly 0.000002039 percent of the population, and millionaires represent 0.0473 percent.

If the U.S. is the country with the most billionaires, where else do the worlds wealthiest hang their hats? Which countries have the most billionaires besides America? China is home to 319 of them, including real estate guru Wang Jianlin and Alibaba creator Jack Ma. Chinese entrepreneurs are climbing up the list quickly. The third is Germany with 114, and fourth is India at 101. Russia comes in fifth with 96. How many billionaires in the world live in other places? Other countries, such as France, Italy, Australia, and Hong Kong, are home to 355 others. That’s not too surprising, though; where billionaires live is usually where they work, and the world’s billionaires tend to congregate around the world’s richest cities.

How many billionaires in America live in cities versus the rural U.S.? We’ve organized them by state, and yes, many prefer New York, California, and other states with major cities.

The number of billionaires in the U.S. might outshine their Chinese and Russian counterparts, but the rate of the rise of their contemporaries in other countries has raised eyebrows. This is often seen as a result of their country’s more successful economies. On the other hand, if you compare how many billionaires there are in the U.S. per capita, there’s a different story to study, since population figures vary widely. How many billionaires in the U.S. are there per capita? For every billionaire, there are 571,858 people. Compare that to China, where there are 4 million people for every one billionaire.

The top billionaires in the world aren’t always symptomatic of the economies they come from, but the world’s wealthy countries often have their fair share of high-end decision-makers, like Bill Gates or Jack Ma. Hopefully, these leaders of our economies will continue to help steer these markets in positive directions.


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