Wealth-X and Business Insider have collaborated to produce a definitive list of the 50 wealthiest people on the planet. This elite club of billionaires has a combined fortune of US$1.45 trillion, nearly equal to the GDP of Australia, and more than two-thirds are completely self-made.
Microsoft founder and renowned philanthropist Bill Gates was No. 1, with a net worth of US$87.4 billion. Rounding out the rest of the top 6 are fashion retail mogul Amancio Ortega Gaona, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and brothers David Koch and Charles Koch, who run Koch Industries.
The United States is home to 29 billionaires on the list, more than any other country. China comes in second, with four billionaires, and India is third, with three billionaires.
Here are other insights from the list:
- Men dominate at the very upper tiers of wealth — there are 46 male billionaires versus four female billionaires, and all the women on the list inherited their wealth.
- Tech is king — 12 billionaires, nearly a quarter of the list, come from the technology sector.
- The youngest billionaire in the top 50 is 31-year-old Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, ranked 8th with a net worth of US$42.8 billion.
- The oldest billionaire, 93-year-old L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, is also one of four women in the list. She is ranked 17th, with a net worth of US$29 billion.
50 Wealthiest People In The World
