Money

Mapped: The World’s Billionaire Population, by Country

Published

1 year ago

September 15, 2022

Avery Koop

Graphics/Design:

Joyce Ma

Data visualization showing the world's billionaire population by location

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Visualized: The World’s Billionaire Population

The world’s billionaires—only 3,311 individuals—represent almost $11.8 trillion in wealth. The global billionaire population continued to grow in 2021, increasing by 3%. Over the same period, billionaire wealth also increased by 18%.

This map uses data from the Wealth-X Billionaire Census to visualize where the world’s billionaires live and breaks down their collective wealth.

Note on methodology: The report uses proprietary data from Wealth-X. Billionaire status is determined by assessing an individual’s total net worth, including publicly and privately held businesses and investable assets. To determine a billionaire’s location, Wealth-X used their primary business address.

Billionaires by Region

We’ll begin by zooming out to look at how various continents and world regions rank in terms of their billionaire population.

North America is home to most billionaires, worth $4.6 trillion. The U.S., unsurprisingly, accounts for the majority of this wealth, with 975 billionaires and a collective net worth of $4.45 trillion.

Rank	Region	Number of billionaires	Collective Billionaire Wealth
#1	North America	1,035	$4.6 trillion
#2	Europe	954	$3.1 trillion
#3	Asia	899	$2.9 trillion
#4	Middle East	191	$519 billion
#5	Latin America and the Caribbean	146	$465 billion
#6	Africa	46	$104 billion
#7	Pacific	40	$89 billion

In regional terms, Europe’s billionaire wealth is growing the fastest, up 22% year-over-year in 2021. In contrast, the year-over-year change in the Middle East was -12.5%.

Asia is inching towards Europe, holding almost a quarter of all billionaire wealth worldwide, compared to Europe’s 26.5%.

Wealth in Africa will also be important to watch in coming years. Although only home to 46 billionaires currently, the change in billionaire wealth increased by almost 17% year-over-year. Additionally, while they no longer live there, a number of the world’s billionaires hail from African countries originally.

Billionaires by Country

Now, let’s look at the ranking broken down by the top 15 countries:

Rank	Country	Number of Billionaires	Collective Billionaire Wealth
#1	🇺🇸 US	975	$4.45 trillion
#2	🇨🇳 China	400	$1.45 trillion
#3	🇩🇪 Germany	176	$602 billion
#4	🇮🇳 India	124	$384 billion
#5	🇬🇧 UK	120	$266 billion
#6	🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR	114	$287 billion
#7	🇨🇭 Switzerland	111	$365 billion
#8	🇷🇺 Russia	107	$475 billion
#9	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	71	$192 billion
#10	🇫🇷 France	68	$294 billion
#11	🇮🇹 Italy	68	$207 billion
#12	🇨🇦 Canada	60	$131 billion
#13	🇧🇷 Brazil	52	$159 billion
#14	🇸🇬 Singapore	50	$99 billion
#15	🇦🇪 UAE	45	$181 billion

China is an obvious second in billionaire wealth to the United States, with famous billionaires like Zhang Yiming ($44.5 billion) of TikTok and Zhong Shanshan ($67.1 billion), whose wealth primarily comes from the pharmaceutical and beverages industries.

That said, Chinese billionaire wealth actually decreased 2% last year. It was India that came out on top in terms of growth, seeing a 19% increase in 2021.

Billionaires by City

Looking at cities, New York is home to the most billionaires—with 13 added billionaire residents last year—followed by Hong Kong.

Rank	City	Country	Number of Billionaires
#1	New York City	🇺🇸 U.S.	138
#2	Hong Kong	🇭🇰 China	114
#3	San Francisco	🇺🇸 U.S.	85
#4	London	🇬🇧 UK	77
#5	Moscow	🇷🇺 Russia	75
#6	Beijing	🇨🇳 China	63
#7	Los Angeles	🇺🇸 U.S.	59
#8	Singapore	🇸🇬 Singapore	50
#9	Shenzhen	🇨🇳 China	44
#10	Mumbai	🇮🇳 India	40
#11	Dubai	🇦🇪 UAE	38
#12	Hangzhou	🇨🇳 China	35
#13	São Paulo	🇧🇷 Brazil	34
#14	Istanbul	🇹🇷 Turkey	33
#15	Paris	🇫🇷 France	33

Billionaire Wealth in 2022

Billionaires have significant power and influence, not in the least because their collective wealth is equivalent to about 11.8% of global GDP.

In recent billionaire news, Gautam Adani’s wealth has been soaring, most recently hitting the $145 billion mark, making him the third-richest person in the world according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. However, not all billionaires are holding on to their wealth. Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, recently transferred ownership of his company to an organization that fights climate change.

Over the last decade, billionaires have been grown their fortunes considerably, with wealth increasing at a faster rate than the growth in the number of billionaires themselves. According to Wealth-X, collective billionaire net worth grew by an astonishing 90% in the last 10 years.

But in the shorter term, the situation is often more volatile. With markets reeling in 2022, Bloomberg reported that billionaires lost a record $1.4 trillion over the first half of the year. Once the year is over and the final numbers are in, it will be interesting to see how the billionaire landscape shapes up in comparison to the more long-term trend.

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Mapped: The Migration of the World’s Millionaires in 2023

Where do the world’s wealthiest people want to live? This map tracks the migration of the world’s High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs).

Published

2 days ago

September 20, 2023

Avery Koop

Mapping the Migration of the World’s Millionaires 2023

Just like everyone else, High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) traveled less than usual during the pandemic, and as a result their migration numbers trended downwards. But millionaires and billionaires are on the move again and it is anticipated that 122,000 HNWIs will move to a new country by the end of the year.

Henley & Partners’ Private Wealth Migration Report has tracked the countries HNWIs have moved from and to over the last 10 years; this map showcases the 2023 forecasts.

In this context, HNWIs are defined as individuals with a net worth of at least $1 million USD.

The Countries Welcoming New Millionaires

The top 10 countries which are likely to become home to the highest number of millionaires and billionaires in 2023 are scattered across the globe, with Australia reclaiming its top spot this year from the UAE.

Here’s a closer look at the data:

Rank	Country	Projected HNWI Inflow 2023
1	🇦🇺 Australia	5,200
2	🇦🇪 UAE	4,500
3	🇸🇬 Singapore	3,200
4	🇺🇸 U.S.	2,100
5	🇨🇭 Switzerland	1,800
6	🇨🇦 Canada	1,600
7	🇬🇷 Greece	1,200
8	🇫🇷 France	1,000
9	🇵🇹 Portugal	800
10	🇳🇿 New Zealand	700

Only two Asian countries make the top 10, with the rest spread across Europe, North America, and Oceania.

Despite historic economic challenges, Greece is projected to gain 1,200 High Net Worth Individuals this year. One reason could be the country’s golden visa program, wherein wealthy individuals can easily obtain residence and eventually EU passports for the right price—currently a minimum real estate investment cost of 250,000 euros is all that’s required.

Many of the leading millionaire destinations are attractive for wealthy individuals because of higher levels of economic freedom, allowing for laxer tax burdens or ease of investment. Singapore, which expects to gain 3,200 millionaires, is the most economically free market in the world.

The Countries Losing the Most Millionaires

China is anticipated to lose 13,500 High Net Worth Individuals this year, more than double as many as the second place country, India (6,500).

Here’s a closer look at the bottom 10:

Rank	Country	Projected HNWI Outflow 2023
1	🇨🇳 China	-13,500
2	🇮🇳 India	-6,500
3	🇬🇧 UK	-3,200
4	🇷🇺 Russia	-3,000
5	🇧🇷 Brazil	-1,200
6	🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR	-1,000
7	🇰🇷 South Korea	-800
8	🇲🇽 Mexico	-700
9	🇿🇦 South Africa	-500
10	🇯🇵 Japan	-300

In a number of these countries, strict regulatory bodies and corrupt governments can hinder the ease with which HNWIs can manage their own money.

In Russia, many wealthy individuals are facing personal tariffs and trade restrictions from Western countries due to the war in Ukraine. China’s crackdowns on Hong Kong have made it a less attractive place for business. And finally, the UK’s exit from the EU has caused many businesses and individuals to lose the easy movement of labor, finances, and investment that made operations across European borders seamless.

Some of these countries may still be adding homegrown millionaires and billionaires, but losing thousands of HNWIs to net migration does have a considerable economic impact.

Overall, millionaires are increasingly on the move. In the 10 years of reporting—despite a dip during the pandemic—the number of HNWIs moving away from their countries of origin has been growing every year.

Here’s a look at the numbers:

Year	Projected HNWI Migration
2013	51,000
2014	57,000
2015	64,000
2016	82,000
2017	95,000
2018	108,000
2019	110,000
2020	12,000
2021	25,000
2022	84,000
2023 (forecast)	122,000

In a geopolitically fragile but more connected world, it’s no surprise to see millionaires voting with their feet. As a result, governments are increasingly in competition to win the hearts and minds of the world’s economic elite to their side.