Money
The Jump from Millionaire to Billionaire, and How Long That Takes
Some people say that making the first million is the hardest.
Others, like oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens have quipped that the first billion is a “helluva lot harder”.
Regardless of which is true, it’s interesting to examine how long it took the world’s wealthiest to reach the million and billion dollar benchmarks, as well as how many years were in between.
Millions to Billions
Today’s infographic comes to us from Betway, and it provides a study of the 100 wealthiest billionaires that topped the 2018 edition of the Forbes Rich List.
Based on the top 100 billionaires studied from the Rich List, the average age for hitting millionaire status is 37. Meanwhile, the billion dollar mark is hit on average at the age of 51.
This puts the average time period to go from millionaire to billionaire at 14 years.
Making the Jump, by Industry
Even with this small sample size, it’s clear that how fast this jump happens depends greatly on industry.
Tech entrepreneurs were by far the fastest on the list to go from millionaire to billionaire, with an average time of only 7.3 years. That number is averaged down by entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos, who has singlehandedly been able to amass an impressive empire of companies and assets in a very short period of time.
Tech Entrepreneur | Millionaire (Age) | Billionaire (Age) | Difference |
---|---|---|---|
Jeff Bezos | 33 | 35 | 2 years |
Bill Gates | 26 | 31 | 5 years |
Mark Zuckerberg | 22 | 23 | 1 year |
Larry Ellison | 42 | 49 | 7 years |
Larry Page | 25 | 30 | 5 years |
Sergey Brin | 26 | 31 | 5 years |
Ma Huateng | 33 | 36 | 3 years |
Jack Ma | 35 | 45 | 10 years |
Steve Ballmer | 30 | 38 | 8 years |
Other industries don’t have the same luxuries as tech, where products can go from Zero to One at such high speeds.
In the automotive, construction, and real estate industries, for example, there are costly physical assets to deal with, as well as fiercer competition. At the same time, innovations are often more incremental, and companies cannot be scaled as fast.
Making the Jump, by Country
Interestingly, the jump from millionaire to billionaire took the longest in the United States, with a period of 14.1 years on average for self-made billionaires.
Country | Time to go from $1M to $1B |
---|---|
Russia | 9.0 years |
China | 9.9 years |
Japan | 11.0 years |
United States | 14.1 years |
While this may seem counter-intuitive, there are a couple of caveats worth mentioning.
For starters, the sample size is extremely small at just the top 100 billionaires, which means that a country like Russia has only so many in the mix. This low sample size can distort figures, and not be particularly representative of a true average.
Further, economies like Russia and China have recently transitioned from more controlled economies to more market-driven ones. This has allowed oligarchs and well-connected individuals to take advantage, while amassing new wealth at astonishing rates.
Demographics
The Smallest Gender Wage Gaps in OECD Countries
Which OECD countries have the smallest gender wage gaps? We look at the 10 countries with gaps lower than the average.
The Smallest Gender Pay Gaps in OECD Countries
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.
Among the 38 member countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), several have made significant strides in addressing income inequality between men and women.
In this graphic we’ve ranked the OECD countries with the 10 smallest gender pay gaps, using the latest data from the OECD for 2022.
The gender pay gap is calculated as the difference between median full-time earnings for men and women divided by the median full-time earnings of men.
Which Countries Have the Smallest Gender Pay Gaps?
Luxembourg’s gender pay gap is the lowest among OECD members at only 0.4%—well below the OECD average of 11.6%.
Rank | Country | Percentage Difference in Men's & Women's Full-time Earnings |
---|---|---|
1 | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 0.4% |
2 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | 1.1% |
3 | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | 1.4% |
4 | 🇨🇴 Colombia | 1.9% |
5 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | 2.0% |
6 | ðŸ‡ðŸ‡· Croatia | 3.2% |
7 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 3.3% |
8 | 🇳🇴 Norway | 4.5% |
9 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | 5.8% |
10 | 🇵🇹 Portugal | 6.1% |
OECD Average | 11.6% |
Notably, eight of the top 10 countries with the smallest gender pay gaps are located in Europe, as labor equality laws designed to target gender differences have begun to pay off.
The two other countries that made the list were Costa Rica (1.4%) and Colombia (1.9%), which came in third and fourth place, respectively.
How Did Luxembourg (Nearly) Eliminate its Gender Wage Gap?
Luxembourg’s virtually-non-existent gender wage gap in 2020 can be traced back to its diligent efforts to prioritize equal pay. Since 2016, firms that have not complied with the Labor Code’s equal pay laws have been subjected to penalizing fines ranging from €251 to €25,000.
Higher female education rates also contribute to the diminishing pay gap, with Luxembourg tied for first in the educational attainment rankings of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index Report for 2023.
See More Graphics about Demographics and Money
While these 10 countries are well below the OECD’s average gender pay gap of 11.6%, many OECD member countries including the U.S. are significantly above the average. To see the full list of the top 10 OECD countries with the largest gender pay gaps, check out this visualization.
-
Mining2 weeks ago
Charted: The Value Gap Between the Gold Price and Gold Miners
-
Real Estate1 week ago
Ranked: The Most Valuable Housing Markets in America
-
Business1 week ago
Charted: Big Four Market Share by S&P 500 Audits
-
AI1 week ago
The Stock Performance of U.S. Chipmakers So Far in 2024
-
Misc1 week ago
Almost Every EV Stock is Down After Q1 2024
-
Money2 weeks ago
Where Does One U.S. Tax Dollar Go?
-
Green2 weeks ago
Ranked: Top Countries by Total Forest Loss Since 2001
-
Real Estate2 weeks ago
Visualizing America’s Shortage of Affordable Homes