How much the world’s richest people are worth
The world’s top 200 richest people are worth $3.1 trillion dollars, accounting for about 4.2% of the world’s entire GDP.
According the IMF’s 2014 World Economic Outlook report, the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013 stood at approximately $73.98 trillion.
The IMF expects total global output (real GDP) to increase by 3.6% in 2014 to US$76.8 trillion.
While most of us can’t even comprehend the scope of trillions of dollars, the world’s 200 richest people – led by Microsoft founder Bill Gates – account for a sizable chunk of that figure.
According to Forbes, there are 1,645 billionaires across the globe who carry a hefty total net worth of US$6.4 trillion – just under half of that fortune is in the hands of the top 200.
In 2013, Gates overtook the world’s previous richest man, telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu – a position the former Microsoft head retains with a massive net worth of US$84.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In the past year (to August 28, 2014), Gates has seen his fortune grow by 7.5%, adding $5.9 billion.
Helu, still the world’s number 2 billionaire, has seen larger growth – 9.8% – adding $7.3 billion in the past year to US$72 billion.
Top 10 billionaires
| # | Billionaire | Net Worth |
| 1 | Bill Gates | $84.5 billion |
| 2 | Carlos Slim | $81.0 billion |
| 3 | Warren Buffet | $66.7 billion |
| 4 | Amancia Ortega | $62.4 billion |
| 5 | Charles Koch | $52.6 billion |
| 6 | David Koch | $52.6 billion |
| 7 | Larry Ellison | $46.0 billion |
| 8 | Ingvar Kamprad | $42.7 billion |
| 9 | Christy Walton | $38.5 billion |
| 10 | Jim Walton | $36.6 billion |
Top 5 billionaire gainers
Jack Ma, the founder and chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, has emerged as the biggest gainer over the past year, to become China’s richest man with a net worth of $21.8 billion.
The e-commerce business is preparing to launch its IPO, in what could be the largest in US history, according to Bloomberg.
Other big gainers according to the index are venture capitalist Richard Liu, who saw his fortunes rise 234%, and “real life Tony Stark,”, Elon Musk, who saw gains of 57%.
| # | Billionaire | Net Worth |
Gain |
| 1 | Jack Ma | $21.8 billion | 505.5% |
| 2 | Richard Liu | $9.0 billion | 234.1% |
| 3 | Patrick Drahi | $10.0 billion | 90.9% |
| 4 | Elon Musk | $12.4 billion | 56.6% |
| 5 | Dilip Shanghvi | $19.2 billion | 53.0% |
Ma also tops the list of gainers in monetary terms, with his 500% increase in wealth totalling over $18.2 billion dollars.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, off the strong gains made by the social media giant over the past year, added the third biggest amount of $8.1 billion to his fortune.
Top 5 billionaire losers
SoftBank CEO, Masayoshi Son, has seen the biggest loss in fortune over the past year, seeing his net worth sink 25% to $14.3 billion.
| # | Billionaire | Net Worth |
Loss |
| 1 | Masayoshi Son | $14.3 billion | -24.6% |
| 2 | Charles Butt | $7.5 billion | -24.3% |
| 3 | Gennady Timchenko | $8.5 billion | -22.6% |
| 4 | Tadashi Yanai | $16.2 billion | -25.5% |
| 5 | Vladamir Uvtushenkov | $7.9 billion | -22.1% |
In monetary terms, even as the world’s 8th wealthiest man, IKEA founder and Swedish business magnate Ingvar Kamprad still took the biggest knock in the past year, seeing $10.7 billion wiped from his fortunes.
Jeff Bezoz, the second biggest loser of the year so far, only saw half of that amount – $4.9 billion – sink from his net worth.
69 of the 200 billionaires ranked by Bloomberg saw a loss over the past year.
Overall, the world’s 200 richest people saw a total net gain of $115 billion in the past year.
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