How U.S. Billionaires Stack Up With the Rest of the World
There are 3,508 billionaires on the planet. Americans dominate their collective wealth.
By Inti Pacheco and Rosie Ettenheim
Surging stock markets lifted the fortunes of many of the world’s richest people last year, leaving a record billionaire class of 3,508 individuals with $13.4 trillion in collective wealth, up 10.3% from a year earlier.
About a third of the world’s billionaires—1,135—were in the U.S. and their fortunes accounted for 43% of the collective wealth, according to Altrata, a wealth-intelligence firm.
China came in second with 321 billionaires holding about 10% of the world’s wealth.
In 2024, the number of European billionaires exceeded 1,000 for the first time since Altrata began collecting data more than a decade ago.
The list includes France’s Bernard Arnault ($236.4 billion), the longtime chief executive of luxury conglomerate LVMH; and Germany’s Dieter Schwarz ($45.9 billion), the retail magnate behind grocery giant Lidl.
Europe is now the second-largest region, after North America, following the fall of several Asian individuals from the list.
In China, those currently on the billionaire list include Zhong Shanshan ($79.9 billion), who founded bottled water company Nongfu Spring; and Pony Ma ($71.5 billion), the CEO of Chinese social-media and videogame giant Tencent.
The AI boom is widening the gulf even among the superrich, with strong equity gains in recent years boosting the fortunes of U.S.-based billionaires including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.
The billionaire border is fuzzy and market fluctuations can push people on or off the list.
One notable name that didn’t make the cut: Britain’s King Charles III, whose net worth Altrata estimates at $770 million.
Only people worth at least $4.2 billion made Altrata’s list, given the fluctuations in net worth.
In 2024, fewer people than usual fell off the list.
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