Money
Mapping Out the Richest Billionaires in Each Country
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Mapping Out The Richest Billionaires in Each Country
While there are nearly 8 billion people in the world, just over 3,000 are billionaires as of November 2022. This tiny group of people is worth nearly $11.8 trillion—Equivalent to about 11.8% of global GDP.
Where do these billionaires live? This graphic by Truman Du uses data from Forbes to map out the richest billionaires around the world.
The Full List
As it turns out, billionaires are a lot more geographically concentrated than you might think.
In fact, of the 195 officially recognized countries around the world, only 76 are home to billionaires. And even within these countries, there’s vast disparities between the quantity of billionaires.
Here’s a breakdown of all the countries that have at least one billionaire. For countries with more than one, we’ve highlighted the billionaire with the highest net worth as of November 28, 2022:
Country/territory | Name | Net worth ($B) | Main source of wealth (sector) |
---|---|---|---|
🇩🇿 Algeria | Issad Rebrab | 5.1 | food |
🇦🇷 Argentina | Marcos Galperin | 4.0 | e-commerce |
🇦🇲 Armenia | Ruben Vardanyan | 1.3 | investment banking |
🇦🇺 Australia | Gina Rinehart | 27.9 | mining |
🇦🇹 Austria | Georg Stumpf | 7.9 | real estate, construction |
🇧🇩 Bangladesh | Muhammed Aziz Khan | 1.0 | power |
🇧🇧 Barbados | Rihanna | 1.4 | music, cosmetics |
🇧🇪 Belgium | Eric Wittouck | 9.0 | investments |
🇧🇿 Belize | Kenneth Dart | 4.0 | investments |
🇧🇷 Brazil | Jorge Paulo Lemann | 15.6 | beer |
🇧🇬 Bulgaria | Georgi & Kiril Domuschiev | 1.9 | animal health, investments |
🇨🇦 Canada | David Thomson | 53.2 | media |
🇨🇱 Chile | Iris Fontbona | 19.6 | mining |
🇨🇳 China | Zhong Shanshan | 66.7 | beverages, pharmaceuticals |
🇨🇴 Colombia | Luis Carlos Sarmiento | 6.3 | banking |
🇨🇾 Cyprus | John Fredriksen | 11.4 | shipping |
🇨🇿 Czechia | Renata Kellnerova | 16.0 | finance, telecommunications |
🇩🇰 Denmark | Anders Holch Povlsen | 11.9 | fashion retail |
🇪🇬 Egypt | Nassef Sawiris | 7.2 | construction, investments |
🇪🇪 Estonia | Kristo Kaarmann | 1.4 | payments, banking |
🇫🇮 Finland | Antti Herlin | 3.9 | elevators, escalators |
🇫🇷 France | Bernard Arnault | 179.5 | LVMH |
🇬🇪 Georgia | Bidzina Ivanishvili | 4.8 | investments |
🇩🇪 Germany | Beate Heister & Karl Albrecht Jr. | 35.1 | supermarkets |
🇬🇷 Greece | Vicky Safra | 7.1 | banking |
🇬🇬 Guernsey | Stephen Lansdown | 2.3 | financial services |
ðŸ‡ðŸ‡° Hong Kong | Li Ka-shing | 33.0 | diversified |
ðŸ‡ðŸ‡º Hungary | Sandor Csanyi | 1.1 | finance, real estate |
🇮🇸 Iceland | Thor Bjorgolfsson | 2.5 | investments |
🇮🇳 India | Gautam Adani | 133.6 | infrastructure, commodities |
🇮🇩 Indonesia | R. Budi Hartono | 23.4 | banking, tobacco |
🇮🇪 Ireland | John Collison & Patrick Collison | 8,1 | payments software |
🇮🇱 Israel | Eyal Ofer | 14.4 | real estate, shipping |
🇮🇹 Italy | Giovanni Ferrero | 34.4 | Nutella, chocolates |
🇯🇵 Japan | Tadashi Yanai | 29.2 | fashion retail |
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | Vladimir Kim | 5.0 | mining |
🇱🇧 Lebanon | Taha Mikati | 2.8 | telecom |
🇱🇮 Liechtenstein | Christoph Zeller | 2.2 | dental materials |
🇲🇴 Macau | Hoi Kin Hong | 1.2 | real estate |
🇲🇾 Malaysia | Quek Leng Chan | 10.2 | banking, property |
🇲🇽 Mexico | Carlos Slim Helu | 86.2 | telecom |
🇲🇨 Monaco | Stefano Pessina | 9.3 | drugstores |
🇲🇦 Morocco | Aziz Akhannouch | 1.8 | petroleum |
🇳🇵 Nepal | Binod Chaudhary | 1.5 | diversified |
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken | 15.0 | Heineken |
🇳🇿 New Zealand | Graeme Hart | 10.1 | investments |
🇳🇬 Nigeria | Aliko Dangote | 12.9 | cement, sugar |
🇳🇴 Norway | Andreas Halvorsen | 6.6 | hedge funds |
🇴🇲 Oman | Suhail Bahwan | 2.0 | diversified |
🇵🇪 Peru | Carlos Rodriguez-Pastor | 4.3 | finance |
🇵🇠Philippines | Manuel Villar | 7.0 | real estate |
🇵🇱 Poland | Michal Solowow | 6.0 | investments |
🇵🇹 Portugal | Maria Fernanda Amorim | 4.5 | energy, investments |
🇶🇦 Qatar | Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani | 1.9 | hotels |
🇷🇴 Romania | Ion Stoica & Matei Zaharia | 1.6 | data analytics |
🇷🇺 Russia | Andrey Melnichenko | 27.0 | coal, fertilizers |
🇸🇬 Singapore | Li Xiting | 16.6 | medical devices |
🇸🇰 Slovakia | Ivan Chrenko | 1.6 | real estate |
🇿🇦 South Africa | Johann Rupert | 9.0 | luxury goods |
🇰🇷 South Korea | Jay Y. Lee | 7.9 | samsung |
🇪🇸 Spain | Amancio Ortega | 62.5 | Zara |
🇰🇳 St. Kitts and Nevis | Myron Wentz | 1.3 | health products |
🇸🇿 Swaziland (Eswatini) | Nathan Kirsh | 5.4 | retail, real estate |
🇸🇪 Sweden | Stefan Persson | 15.3 | H&M |
🇨ðŸ‡Switzerland | Guillaume Pousaz | 23.0 | fintech |
🇹🇼 Taiwan | Zhang Congyuan | 6.7 | shoes |
🇹🇿 Tanzania | Mohammed Dewji | 1.5 | diversified |
🇹🇠Thailand | Sarath Ratanavadi | 12.2 | energy |
🇹🇷 Turkey | Ibrahim Erdemoglu | 6.5 | carpet |
🇺🇦 Ukraine | Rinat Akhmetov | 4.3 | steel, coal |
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | Pavel Durov | 15.1 | messaging app |
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Michael Platt | 15.2 | hedge funds |
🇺🇸 United States | Elon Musk | 191.2 | Tesla, SpaceX |
🇻🇪 Venezuela | Juan Carlos Escotet | 3.2 | banking |
🇻🇳 Vietnam | Pham Nhat Vuong | 4.7 | diversified |
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | Strive Masiyiwa | 1.2 | telecom |
The United States is well known to have one of the highest concentrations of billionaires. It’s home to over 900, with Elon Musk the wealthiest of them all with a staggering net worth of over $191 billion in November 2022. That makes him not just the richest billionaire in America, but the richest person in the world.
China has the second highest concentration of billionaires, with 400 ultra-wealthy that have a combined net worth of $1.45 trillion. China’s richest billionaire, Zhong Shanshan, is the founder of the Nongfu Spring beverage company.
Interestingly, there are no clear patterns when it comes to the type of industry or sector that these billionaires are involved in. The exception is the U.S., where a significant number of billionaires are linked to the tech industry.
And it’s important to note that some heads of states are reportedly billionaires, and in many cases might be the wealthiest people in their respective countries. But their wealth is often a state secret, well-diversified, and too difficult to accurately estimate.
Male vs. Female Billionaires
One trend that does stand out is the number of men versus women who are billionaires. Of the 76 billionaires on the list, only 7 are women.
This pattern is also evident when looking at the entire billionaire population—of the 3,311 billionaires worldwide, only 12.9% are women.
It’s worth mentioning that this population of billionaire women is rising. According to Forbes, the 2021 list included 328 women, 36% more than in 2020.
This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.
Money
How Small Investments Make a Big Impact Over Time
Compound interest is a powerful force in building wealth. Here’s how it impacts even the most modest portfolio over the long-term.
How Small Investments Make a Big Impact Over Time
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Time is an investor’s biggest ally, even if they start with just a modest portfolio.
The reason behind this is compounding interest, of course, thanks to its ability to magnify returns as interest earns interest on itself. With a fortune of $159 billion, Warren Buffett largely credits compound interest as a vital ingredient to his success—describing it like a snowball collecting snow as it rolls down a very long hill.
This graphic shows how compound interest can dramatically impact the value of an investor’s portfolio over longer periods of time, based on data from Investor.gov.
Why Compound Interest is a Powerful Force
Below, we show how investing $100 each month, with a 10% annual return starting at the age of 25 can generate outsized returns by simply staying the course:
Age | Total Contributions | Interest | Portfolio Value |
---|---|---|---|
25 | $1,300 | $10 | $1,310 |
30 | $7,300 | $2,136 | $9,436 |
35 | $13,300 | $9,223 | $22,523 |
40 | $19,300 | $24,299 | $43,599 |
45 | $25,300 | $52,243 | $77,543 |
50 | $31,300 | $100,910 | $132,210 |
55 | $37,300 | $182,952 | $220,252 |
60 | $43,300 | $318,743 | $362,043 |
65 | $49,300 | $541,101 | $590,401 |
70 | $55,300 | $902,872 | $958,172 |
75 | $61,300 | $1,489,172 | $1,550,472 |
Portfolio value is at end of each time period. All time periods are five years except for the first year (Age 25) which includes a $100 initial contribution. Interest is computed annually.
As we can see, the portfolio grows at a relatively slow pace over the first five years.
But as the portfolio continues to grow, the interest earned begins to exceed the contributions in under 15 years. That’s because interest is earned not only on the total contributions but on the accumulated interest itself. So by the age of 40, the total contributions are valued at $19,300 while the interest earned soars to $24,299.
Not only that, the interest earned soars to double the value of the investor’s contributions over the next five years—reaching $52,243 compared to the $25,300 in principal.
By the time the investor is 75, the power of compound interest becomes even more eye-opening. While the investor’s lifetime contributions totaled $61,300, the interest earned ballooned to 25 times that value, reaching $1,489,172.
In this way, it shows that investing consistently over time can benefit investors who stick it through stock market ups and downs.
The Two Key Ingredients to Growing Money
Generally speaking, building wealth involves two key pillars: time and rate of return.
Below, we show how these key factors can impact portfolios based on varying time horizons using a hypothetical example. Importantly, just a small difference in returns can make a huge impact on a portfolio’s end value:
Annual Return | Portfolio Value 25 Year Investment Horizon | Portfolio Value 75 Year Investment Horizon |
---|---|---|
5% | $57,611 | $911,868 |
8% | $88,412 | $4,835,188 |
12% | $161,701 | $49,611,684 |
With this in mind, it’s important to take into account investment fees which can erode the value of your investments.
Even the difference of 1% in investment fees adds up over time, especially over the long run. Say an investor paid 1% in fees, and had an after-fee return of 9%. If they had a $100 starting investment, contributed monthly over a 25-year time span, their portfolio would be worth over $102,000 at the end of the period.
By comparison, a 10% return would have made over $119,000. In other words, they lost roughly $17,000 on their investment because of fees.
Another important factor to keep in mind is inflation. In order to preserve the value of your portfolio, its important to choose investments that beat inflation, which has historically averaged around 3.3%.
For perspective, since 1974 the S&P 500 has returned 12.5% on average annually (including reinvested dividends), 10-Year U.S. Treasury bonds have returned 6.6%, while real estate has averaged 5.6%. As we can see, each of these have outperformed inflation over longer horizons, with varying degrees of risk and return.
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