Over the past five years, the Forbes magazine list of The World’s Billionaires has revealed — and continues to reveal — many interesting things about the wealthiest individuals around the globe:
HOW MANY BILLIONAIRES ARE THERE?
- In 2011, there were 1,210 billionaires (people with a net worth of $1 billion or more).
- In 2015, that number rose to 1,826.
- In 2016, the list actually shrank a bit to 1,810.
BIG NAMES
The top ten billionaires in 2016 (in order of wealth) are:
- Bill Gates
- Amancio Ortega
- Warren Buffett
- Carlos Slim Helu
- Jeff Bezos
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Larry Ellison
- Michael Bloomberg
- Charles Koch
- David Koch
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
A few interesting notes:
- Five of the top seven billionaires from the 2011 list are still in the top seven: Gates (#2 in 2011), Ortega (#7), Buffett (#3), Helu (#1) and Ellison (#5).
- We also see that the top three from 2011 (Helu, Gates, Buffett) are still in the top four.
- Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg rose from #52 in 2011 all the way to #6 today.
WHERE THEY COME FROM
It should be no surprise that the tech sector continues to lead the way in creating billionaires. Also of note:
- In 2011, about 1 in 3 billionaires (413, or 34%) were from the United States.
- Today, 540 billionaires are from the U.S. — or 29.8% of the list.
- Today, eight of the top 10 billionaires on the list are from the United States.
- China has the second most at 251, and Germany is third with 120.
- The Asia-Pacific region has 590 total — making it the region with the most billionaires.
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