The World’s Wealthiest Man

The world’s wealthiest individuals and where they live

Businessman Li Ka-shing heads up a roster of more than 317 Chinese billionaires, who helped propel Asia ahead of North American as the continent that’s home to more people with net wealth of more than $US1 billion than any other. But the US is still the country that houses the most billionaires.

First, Asia overtook North America as the millionaire capital of the world, now it boasts more billionaires than any other place on earth.

According to Hurun Report’s Hurun Global Rich List 2013, Asia is home to 608 billionaires, or more than 40 per cent of the world’s 1453 mega rich individuals. Of that 608, more than half live in China, which still trails the United States as the country with the most billionaires.

The top five countries for billionaires according to the list are: the United States (408 billionaires), China (317), Russia (88), Germany (61) and the UK (56). Australia comes in at No. 16 with 16 billionaires, by Hurun Report’s calculations.

But while the US is top of the pops among countries and Asia wins among continents, it’s Moscow that takes out the top spot as the city that’s home to the most billionaires.

Moscow (76 billionaires) leads New York (70), Hong Kong (54), Beijing (41) and London (40). Rounding out the top 10 cities are Istanbul (26), Mumbai (24), Shanghai (24), Paris (23) and Shenzen (22).

Good times abound

Hurun Report also finds that the past year was good for the richest of the rich, with the cadre’s combined personal wealth climbing to a whopping $US5.5 trillion, equivalent to China’s gross domestic product.

As for the richest of the rich elite – a gang Hurun Report dubs the Ten-Zero Club because members have personal wealth of more than $US10 billion – 25 more individuals joined the group taking its total headcount to 108.

Among the top 10, wealth rose 22 per cent for the 2013 survey, equivalent to these fattest of fat cats pocketing a combined $US250 million more a day.

The Report also suspects there may be many more billionaires out there than it’s counted.

“For every billionaire that Hurun Report has found, I estimate we have missed at least two, meaning that today there are probably 4000 [US] dollar billionaires in the world,” Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf says.

How to spot a billionaire
As for what the typical billionaire looks like, the Report says:

    The average age of a billionaire is 63
    The average age of the top 10 billionaires is 74
    Being an American male is a common trait
    Being a woman is an uncommon trait (only 1 in 10 billionaires)
    74 per cent of billionaires are self-made
    Among billionaires who inherit wealth, most are second-generation rich
    Most commonly billionaires made the fortunes in real estate, TMT (technology, media and telecommunications), investments and retail
    Facebook founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz are the list’s youngest self-made billionaires at 28 and 29-years-old respectively
    Dragons and horses are the most common Chinese star signs in the billionaire club, with rats and chickens the least common

The top 10

As for the top 10, Hurun Report comes up with similar names but a slightly different order to Forbes’ billionaires list. According the Report those in the 10 are:

    Carlos Slim Helu and family ($US66 billion) – resides Mexico
    Warren Buffett ($US58 billion) – resides USA
    Amancio Ortega ($US55 billion) – resides Spain
    Bill Gates ($US54 billion) – resides USA
    Bernard Arnault ($US51 billion) – resides France
    Larry Ellison ($US43 billion) – resides USA
    Li Ka-shing ($US32 billion) – resides China
    Charles Koch ($US31 billion) – resides USA
    David Koch ($US31 billion) – resides USA
    Liliane Bettencourt ($US30 billion) – resides France

Where they live

City	No. of billionaires		Country	No. of billionaires	% of billionaire population
Moscow	76		USA	409	28.1
New York	70		China	317	21.8
Hong Kong	54		Russia	88	6
Beijing	41		Germany	61	4.2
London	40		UK	56	3.8
Istanbul	26		India	53	3.6
Mumbai	24		Switzerland	41	2.8
Shanghai	24		Brazil	33	2.3
Paris	23		Chinese Taipei	32	2.2
Shenzhen	22		France	31	2.1
Taipei	22		Turkey	31	2.1
Sao Paulo	19		Canada	22	1.5
Hangzhou	18		Japan	22	1.5
San Francisco	18		Austria	17	1.2
Seoul	17		South Korea	17	1.2
Guangzhou	16		Australia	16	1.1
Los Angeles	16		Italy	14	1
Dallas	15		Spain	14	1
Tokyo	14		Netherlands	12	0.8
Houston	12		Indonesia	11	0.8
Beverly Hills	11		Singapore	11	0.8
Geneva	11
Singapore	11

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