Beijing is the new ‘Billionaire Capital of the World’, having replaced New York for the first time.
Hurun’s Global Rich List 2016, showed that 100 billionaires now reside in the Chinese capital, compared with 95 in New York. Moscow is third with 66 billionaires.
The research firm also noted that China has overtaken the US as the country with the highest number of billionaires, overall, with 568 versus 535, having gained 90 new super wealthy individuals. India was placed third, with 111 billionaires.
Hurun noted that despite a global economic slowdown, the world saw 99 new dollar billionaires, to a total of 2,188 individuals from 68 countries – a record.
As many as six South Africans feature on the list, the same number as in 2015.
Total wealth increased by 9% to US$7.3 trillion – more than the GDP of Germany and the UK combined, and coming close to half that of the USA.
729 individuals saw their wealth decrease, while 102 dropped out of this year’s list.
The research company pointed out that the average age on the list is 64, while 69% are self-made. Only 15% of the list are female, or 315 women in total.
Rupert Hoogewerf, Chairman and Chief Researcher of Hurun Report, said: “Despite its own slowdown and falling stockmarkets, China minted more new billionaires than any other country in the world last year, mainly on the back of new listings.”
“Growth in billionaires for the rest of the world was held back by a slowdown in the global economy, the strengthening of the US dollar and the drop in oil prices. The number of billionaires, however, has jumped 50% since 2013.”
South Africa’s billionaires
| # | # Change | Name | Net Worth (US$bn) | Wealth Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 213 | +189 | Christo Wiese | 6.3 | +125% |
| 224 | +70 | Nicky Oppenheimer | 6.0 | +62% |
| 329 | -69 | Johann Rupert | 4.6 | +7% |
| 1308 | -585 | Koos Bekker | 1.6 | -29% |
| 1964 | -52 | Patrice Motsepe | 1.0 | 0% |
| 1964 | -1122 | Stephen Saad | 1.0 | -50% |
Bill Gates, 60, retains the Number 1 spot as the richest man in the world with a fortune of US$80 billion. Gates becomes the first person alive today to have created a US$100 billion fortune, having given away more than US$20 billion, to date.
Second richest is Warren Buffett, 85, who saw his wealth decrease by US$8 billion or 11% – US$2.2 billion of which was a donation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The world’s top 15 billionaires
| # | # Change | Name | Net Worth (US$bn) | Wealth Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Bill Gates | 80 | -6% |
| 2 | +1 | Warren Buffett | 68 | -11% |
| 3 | +1 | Amancio Ortega | 64 | +16% |
| 4 | +18 | Jeff Bezos | 53 | +83% |
| 5 | -3 | Carlos Slim Helu | 50 | -40% |
| 6 | +1 | Mark Zuckerberg | 47 | +7% |
| 7 | -2 | Larry Ellison | 46 | -15% |
| 8 | 0 | Charles Koch | 44 | +22% |
| 8 | 0 | David Koch | 44 | +22% |
| 10 | -4 | Bernard Arnault | 37 | -18% |
| 10 | +29 | Michael Bloomberg | 37 | +76% |
| 12 | -4 | Dieter Schwarz | 36 | 0% |
| 13 | +4 | Larry Page | 34 | +10% |
| 14 | +1 | Lilane Bettencourt | 33 | 0% |
| 14 | +4 | Sergey Brin | 33 | +10% |
More on wealth
South Africa’s richest people in 2015
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