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.
Money
Animated Chart: Remittance Flows and GDP Impact By Country
Which countries rely on remittance flows the most? This animation shows the amount of remittance income that countries received in 2022.

Visualizing Remittance Flows and GDP Impact By Country
The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the flow of global immigration by 27%. Alongside it, travel restrictions, job losses, and mounting health concerns meant that many migrant workers couldn’t send money in the form of remittances back to families in their home countries.
This flow of remittances received by countries dropped by 1.5% to $711 billion globally in 2020. But over the next two years, things quickly turned back around.
As visa approvals restarted and international borders opened, so did international migration and global remittance flows. In 2021, total global remittances were estimated at $781 billion and have further risen to $794 billion in 2022.
In these images, Richie Lionell uses the World Bank’s KNOMAD data to visualize this increasing flow of money across international borders in 176 countries.
Why Do Remittances Matter?
Remittances contribute to the economy of nations worldwide, especially low and middle-income countries (LMICs).
They have been shown to help alleviate poverty, improve nutrition, and even increase school enrollment rates in these nations. Research has also found that these inflows of income can help recipient households become resilient, especially in the face of disasters.
At the same time, it’s worth noting that these transfers aren’t a silver bullet for recipient nations. In fact, some research shows that overreliance on remittances can cause a vicious cycle that doesn’t translate to consistent economic growth over time.
Countries Receiving the Highest Remittances
For the past 15 years, India has consistently topped the chart of the largest remittance beneficiaries.
Rank | Remittance Inflows by Country | 2022 (USD) |
---|---|---|
1 | India | $100,000M |
2 | Mexico | $60,300M |
3 | China | $51,000M |
4 | Philippines | $38,000M |
5 | Egypt, Arab Rep. | $32,337M |
6 | Pakistan | $29,000M |
7 | France | $28,520M |
8 | Bangladesh | $21,000M |
9 | Nigeria | $20,945M |
10 | Vietnam | $19,000M |
11 | Ukraine | $18,421M |
12 | Guatemala | $18,112M |
13 | Germany | $18,000M |
14 | Belgium | $13,500M |
15 | Uzbekistan | $13,500M |
16 | Morocco | $11,401M |
17 | Romania | $11,064M |
18 | Dominican Republic | $9,920M |
19 | Indonesia | $9,700M |
20 | Thailand | $9,500M |
21 | Colombia | $9,133M |
22 | Italy | $9,000M |
23 | Nepal | $8,500M |
24 | Spain | $8,500M |
25 | Honduras | $8,284M |
26 | Poland | $8,000M |
27 | Korea, Rep. | $7,877M |
28 | El Salvador | $7,620M |
29 | Lebanon | $6,841M |
30 | Israel | $6,143M |
31 | United States | $6,097M |
32 | Russian Federation | $6,000M |
33 | Serbia | $5,400M |
34 | Brazil | $5,045M |
35 | Japan | $5,000M |
36 | Portugal | $4,694M |
37 | Ghana | $4,664M |
38 | Jordan | $4,646M |
39 | Czech Republic | $4,539M |
40 | Haiti | $4,532M |
41 | Ecuador | $4,468M |
42 | Georgia | $4,100M |
43 | Kenya | $4,091M |
44 | Croatia | $3,701M |
45 | Peru | $3,699M |
46 | Sri Lanka | $3,600M |
47 | West Bank and Gaza | $3,495M |
48 | Jamaica | $3,419M |
49 | Armenia | $3,350M |
50 | Tajikistan | $3,200M |
51 | Nicaragua | $3,126M |
52 | Kyrgyz Republic | $3,050M |
53 | Senegal | $2,711M |
54 | Austria | $2,700M |
55 | Switzerland | $2,631M |
56 | Sweden | $2,565M |
57 | United Kingdom | $2,501M |
58 | Hungary | $2,404M |
59 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | $2,400M |
60 | Slovak Republic | $2,300M |
61 | Moldova | $2,170M |
62 | Azerbaijan | $2,150M |
63 | Tunisia | $2,085M |
64 | Zimbabwe | $2,047M |
65 | Luxembourg | $2,000M |
66 | Netherlands | $2,000M |
67 | Myanmar | $1,900M |
68 | Algeria | $1,829M |
69 | Albania | $1,800M |
70 | Somalia | $1735M |
71 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | $1,664M |
72 | Malaysia | $1,620M |
73 | Kosovo | $1,600M |
74 | Denmark | $1,517M |
75 | Latvia | $1,500M |
76 | Bolivia | $1,403M |
77 | Belarus | $1,350M |
78 | Cambodia | $1,250M |
79 | Bermuda | $1,200M |
80 | South Sudan | $1,187M |
81 | Uganda | $1,131M |
82 | Mali | $1,094M |
83 | South Africa | $1,019M |
84 | Sudan | $1,013M |
85 | Argentina | $966M |
86 | Montenegro | $920M |
87 | Finland | $880M |
88 | Bulgaria | $850M |
89 | Slovenia | $800M |
90 | Australia | $737M |
91 | Madagascar | $718M |
92 | Turkey | $710M |
93 | Canada | $700M |
94 | Lithuania | $700M |
95 | Togo | $668M |
96 | Greece | $665M |
97 | Costa Rica | $654M |
98 | Estonia | $626M |
99 | Qatar | $624M |
100 | Iraq | $624M |
101 | Gambia, The | $615M |
102 | Tanzania | $609M |
103 | Norway | $600M |
104 | Panama | $596M |
105 | Burkina Faso | $589M |
106 | Hong Kong SAR, China | $571M |
107 | Paraguay | $554M |
108 | Mozambique | $545M |
109 | Niger | $534M |
110 | Cyprus | $527M |
111 | Lesotho | $527M |
112 | Mongolia | $500M |
113 | Rwanda | $469M |
114 | Fiji | $450M |
115 | North Macedonia | $450M |
116 | Guyana | $400M |
117 | Cabo Verde | $375M |
118 | Kazakhstan | $370M |
119 | Cameroon | $365M |
120 | Cote d'Ivoire | $360M |
121 | Liberia | $351M |
122 | Afghanistan | $350M |
123 | Ethiopia | $327M |
124 | Samoa | $280M |
125 | Mauritius | $279M |
126 | Saudi Arabia | $273M |
127 | Malta | $271M |
128 | Malawi | $267M |
129 | Zambia | $260M |
130 | Tonga | $250M |
131 | Comoros | $250M |
132 | Ireland | $249M |
133 | Suriname | $221M |
134 | Benin | $209M |
135 | Lao PDR | $200M |
136 | Timor-Leste | $185M |
137 | Sierra Leone | $179M |
138 | Guinea-Bissau | $178M |
139 | Trinidad and Tobago | $172M |
140 | Mauritania | $168M |
141 | Iceland | $164M |
142 | Eswatini | $148M |
143 | Belize | $142M |
144 | Curacao | $131M |
145 | Uruguay | $127M |
146 | Chile | $78M |
147 | Vanuatu | $75M |
148 | St. Vincent and the Grenadines | $70M |
149 | Grenada | $69M |
150 | Botswana | $56M |
151 | St. Lucia | $55M |
152 | Bhutan | $55M |
153 | Djibouti | $55M |
154 | Dominica | $52M |
155 | Burundi | $50M |
156 | Aruba | $44M |
157 | Namibia | $44M |
158 | Guinea | $41M |
159 | Solomon Islands | $40M |
160 | Oman | $39M |
161 | Antigua and Barbuda | $35M |
162 | St. Kitts and Nevis | $33M |
163 | Marshall Islands | $30M |
164 | Kuwait | $27M |
165 | New Zealand | $25M |
166 | Macao SAR, China | $17M |
167 | Angola | $16M |
168 | Kiribati | $15M |
169 | Cayman Islands | $14M |
170 | Sao Tome and Principe | $10M |
171 | Seychelles | $9M |
172 | Maldives | $5M |
173 | Gabon | $4M |
174 | Palau | $2M |
175 | Papua New Guinea | $2M |
176 | Turkmenistan | $1M |
Total | World | $794,059M |
With an estimated $100 billion in remittances received, India is said to have reached an all-time high in 2022.
This increasing flow of remittances can be partially attributed to migrant Indians switching to high-skilled jobs in high-income countries—including the U.S., the UK, and Singapore—from low-skilled and low-paying jobs in Gulf countries.
Mexico and China round out the top three remittance-receiving nations, with estimated inbound transfers of $60 billion and $51 billion respectively in 2022.
Impact on National GDP
While India tops the list of countries benefitting from remittances, its $100 billion received amounts to only 2.9% of its 2022 GDP.
Meanwhile, low and middle-income countries around the world heavily rely on this source of income to boost their economies in a more substantive way. In 2022, for example, remittances accounted for over 15% of the GDP of 25 countries.
Rank | Remittance Inflows by Country | % of GDP (2022) |
---|---|---|
1 | Tonga | 49.9% |
2 | Lebanon | 37.8% |
3 | Samoa | 33.7% |
4 | Tajikistan | 32.0% |
5 | Kyrgyz Republic | 31.2% |
6 | Gambia, The | 28.3% |
7 | Honduras | 27.1% |
8 | South Sudan | 24.8% |
9 | El Salvador | 23.8% |
10 | Haiti | 22.4% |
11 | Nepal | 21.7% |
12 | Jamaica | 21.2% |
13 | Lesotho | 21.0% |
14 | Somalia | 20.6% |
15 | Comoros | 20.1% |
16 | Nicaragua | 19.9% |
17 | Guatemala | 19.8% |
18 | Armenia | 18.9% |
19 | West Bank and Gaza | 18.5% |
20 | Cabo Verde | 18.2% |
21 | Kosovo | 17.3% |
22 | Uzbekistan | 17.0% |
23 | Georgia | 16.2% |
24 | Moldova | 15.4% |
25 | Montenegro | 15.0% |
26 | Ukraine | 13.8% |
27 | Marshall Islands | 11.0% |
28 | Guinea-Bissau | 10.9% |
29 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 10.1% |
30 | Albania | 9.8% |
31 | Senegal | 9.8% |
32 | Jordan | 9.6% |
33 | Philippines | 9.4% |
34 | Fiji | 9.2% |
35 | Liberia | 9.0% |
36 | Dominican Republic | 8.8% |
37 | Dominica | 8.6% |
38 | Serbia | 8.6% |
39 | Togo | 7.9% |
40 | Morocco | 7.9% |
41 | Pakistan | 7.7% |
42 | Vanuatu | 7.6% |
43 | Timor-Leste | 7.5% |
44 | Suriname | 7.3% |
45 | St. Vincent and the Grenadines | 7.3% |
46 | Kiribati | 7.2% |
47 | Egypt, Arab Rep. | 6.8% |
48 | Ghana | 6.1% |
49 | Mali | 5.9% |
50 | Grenada | 5.8% |
51 | Zimbabwe | 5.3% |
52 | Croatia | 5.3% |
53 | Belize | 5.3% |
54 | Sri Lanka | 4.8% |
55 | Madagascar | 4.7% |
56 | Vietnam | 4.5% |
57 | Bangladesh | 4.5% |
58 | Tunisia | 4.5% |
59 | Cambodia | 4.4% |
60 | Sierra Leone | 4.3% |
61 | Mexico | 4.2% |
62 | Nigeria | 4.1% |
63 | Rwanda | 3.8% |
64 | Ecuador | 3.8% |
65 | Latvia | 3.6% |
66 | Romania | 3.6% |
67 | Niger | 3.6% |
68 | Kenya | 3.5% |
69 | Bolivia | 3.2% |
70 | Burkina Faso | 3.2% |
71 | Myanmar | 3.1% |
72 | North Macedonia | 3.1% |
73 | Mongolia | 3.1% |
74 | Eswatini | 3.1% |
75 | Azerbaijan | 3.0% |
76 | Mozambique | 3.0% |
77 | St. Kitts and Nevis | 2.9% |
78 | India | 2.8% |
79 | St. Lucia | 2.7% |
80 | Guyana | 2.6% |
81 | Colombia | 2.6% |
82 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | 2.6% |
83 | Solomon Islands | 2.4% |
84 | Luxembourg | 2.4% |
85 | Mauritius | 2.4% |
86 | Sudan | 2.3% |
87 | Uganda | 2.3% |
88 | Malawi | 2.3% |
89 | Belgium | 2.2% |
90 | Sao Tome and Principe | 2.0% |
91 | Afghanistan | 2.0% |
92 | Slovak Republic | 2.0% |
93 | Antigua and Barbuda | 2.0% |
94 | Bhutan | 2.0% |
95 | Cyprus | 1.9% |
96 | Portugal | 1.8% |
97 | Thailand | 1.7% |
98 | Belarus | 1.6% |
99 | Mauritania | 1.6% |
100 | Estonia | 1.6% |
101 | Malta | 1.5% |
102 | Peru | 1.5% |
103 | Czech Republic | 1.5% |
104 | Djibouti | 1.4% |
105 | Burundi | 1.3% |
106 | Paraguay | 1.3% |
107 | Hungary | 1.3% |
108 | Slovenia | 1.2% |
109 | Aruba | 1.2% |
110 | Lao PDR | 1.2% |
111 | Benin | 1.1% |
112 | Israel | 1.1% |
113 | Poland | 1.1% |
114 | Lithuania | 1.0% |
115 | France | 1.0% |
116 | Bulgaria | 0.9% |
117 | Algeria | 0.9% |
118 | Zambia | 0.9% |
119 | Costa Rica | 0.9% |
120 | Palau | 0.8% |
121 | Panama | 0.8% |
122 | Cameroon | 0.8% |
123 | Tanzania | 0.7% |
124 | Indonesia | 0.7% |
125 | Spain | 0.6% |
126 | Iceland | 0.5% |
127 | Trinidad and Tobago | 0.5% |
128 | Austria | 0.5% |
129 | Cote d'Ivoire | 0.5% |
130 | Seychelles | 0.4% |
131 | Korea, Rep. | 0.4% |
132 | Italy | 0.4% |
133 | Germany | 0.4% |
134 | Sweden | 0.4% |
135 | Denmark | 0.3% |
136 | Malaysia | 0.3% |
137 | Namibia | 0.3% |
138 | Switzerland | 0.3% |
139 | Finland | 0.3% |
140 | Botswana | 0.3% |
141 | Greece | 0.2% |
142 | Ethiopia | 0.2% |
143 | Qatar | 0.2% |
144 | Russian Federation | 0.2% |
145 | Brazil | 0.2% |
146 | China | 0.2% |
147 | South Africa | 0.2% |
148 | Iraq | 0.2% |
149 | Guinea | 0.2% |
150 | Netherlands | 0.2% |
151 | Uruguay | 0.1% |
152 | Kazakhstan | 0.1% |
153 | Hong Kong SAR, China | 0.1% |
154 | Argentina | 0.1% |
155 | Norway | 0.1% |
156 | Japan | 0.1% |
157 | Maldives | 0.08% |
158 | Turkey | 0.08% |
159 | United Kingdom | 0.07% |
160 | Macao SAR, China | 0.07% |
161 | Ireland | 0.05% |
162 | Australia | 0.04% |
163 | Oman | 0.04% |
164 | Saudi Arabia | 0.03% |
165 | Chile | 0.02% |
166 | United States | 0.02% |
167 | Gabon | 0.02% |
168 | Kuwait | 0.01% |
169 | Angola | 0.01% |
170 | New Zealand | 0.01% |
171 | Papua New Guinea | 0.01% |
172 | Turkmenistan | 0.001% |
Known primarily as a tourist destination, the Polynesian country of Tonga banks on remittance inflows to support its economy. In 2022, the country’s incoming remittance flows were equal to almost 50% of its GDP.
Next on this list is Lebanon. The country received $6.8 billion in remittances in 2022, estimated to equal almost 38% of its GDP and making it a key support to the nation’s shrinking economy.
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