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Mapped: The World’s Billionaire Population, by Country

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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.

RankRegionNumber of billionairesCollective Billionaire Wealth
#1North America1,035$4.6 trillion
#2Europe954$3.1 trillion
#3Asia899$2.9 trillion
#4Middle East191$519 billion
#5Latin America and the Caribbean146$465 billion
#6Africa46$104 billion
#7Pacific40$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:

RankCountryNumber of BillionairesCollective Billionaire Wealth
#1🇺🇸 US975$4.45 trillion
#2🇨🇳 China400$1.45 trillion
#3🇩🇪 Germany176$602 billion
#4🇮🇳 India124$384 billion
#5🇬🇧 UK120$266 billion
#6🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR114$287 billion
#7🇨🇭 Switzerland111$365 billion
#8🇷🇺 Russia107$475 billion
#9🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia71$192 billion
#10🇫🇷 France68$294 billion
#11🇮🇹 Italy68$207 billion
#12🇨🇦 Canada60$131 billion
#13🇧🇷 Brazil52$159 billion
#14🇸🇬 Singapore50$99 billion
#15🇦🇪 UAE45$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.

RankCityCountryNumber of Billionaires
#1New York City🇺🇸 U.S.138
#2Hong Kong🇭🇰 China114
#3San Francisco🇺🇸 U.S.85
#4London🇬🇧 UK77
#5Moscow🇷🇺 Russia75
#6Beijing🇨🇳 China63
#7Los Angeles🇺🇸 U.S.59
#8Singapore🇸🇬 Singapore50
#9Shenzhen🇨🇳 China44
#10Mumbai🇮🇳 India40
#11Dubai🇦🇪 UAE38
#12Hangzhou🇨🇳 China35
#13São Paulo🇧🇷 Brazil34
#14Istanbul🇹🇷 Turkey33
#15Paris🇫🇷 France33

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: Minimum Wage Around the World

This infographic shows the net minimum wage across 67 countries, as of January 2023. A breakdown by U.S. state is also included.

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Mapped: Minimum Wage Around the World

The purpose of a minimum wage is to establish a baseline income level for workers in a given jurisdiction. Ideally it’s enough to cover basic needs like food and housing, but this isn’t always a guarantee.

To see how the minimum wage differs around the world, we’ve visualized data from Picodi, which includes values for 67 countries as of January 2023.

Monthly Minimum Wage, by Country

The following table includes all of the data used in this infographic.

Each value represents the monthly minimum wage a full-time worker would receive in each country. Picodi states that these figures are net of taxes and have been converted to USD.

CountryIncrease compared to Jan 2022Minimum wage as of Jan 2023 (full-time, USD)
Cyprus104.5%$854
Argentina100.0%$336
Turkey32.5%$457
Moldova27.1%$180
Latvia25.8%$555
Malaysia24.6%$289
Pakistan24.5%$111
Romania21.9%$393
Germany21.2%$1,594
Belarus18.8%$189
Lithuania18.5%$646
North Macedonia17.4%$298
Mexico17.1%$315
Chile16.9%$369
Russia16.6%$224
Kazakhstan16.4%$131
Colombia16.0%$249
Hungary15.3%$383
Netherlands14.6%$1,895
Poland14.3%$584
Belgium14.3%$1,509
Serbia14.2%$347
Estonia14.2%$704
Azerbaijan13.3%$186
Albania12.9%$265
Slovenia12.6%$896
US12.0%$1,550
Croatia11.9%$571
Uzbekistan11.4%$72
Paraguay11.4%$323
Armenia10.3%$138
Peru10.0%$233
Bosnia and Herzegovina9.9%$324
Bulgaria9.3%$315
Luxembourg9.2%$2,140
Philippines9.0%$141
Uruguay8.9%$424
Brazil8.5%$232
India8.1%$95
Indonesia7.9%$173
Greece7.8%$626
Portugal7.3%$690
UK7.2%$1,705
Slovakia6.9%$572
South Africa6.6%$226
France6.6%$1,380
Czechia6.0%$643
Vietnam5.7%$162
Ecuador5.6%$407
New Zealand5.4%$1,866
Ireland5.1%$1,753
Canada5.0%$1,545
Thailand4.8%$195
Australia4.7%$2,022
South Korea4.6%$1,333
Taiwan4.0%$800
Bolivia3.9%$284
Guatemala3.6%$383
Malta3.1%$788
Ukraine0.0%$146
Israel0.0%$1,389
Puerto Rico0.0%$1,328
Hong Kong0.0%$959
Saudi Arabia0.0%$958
Spain0.0%$925
Montenegro0.0%$459
Nigeria0.0%$68

Generally speaking, developed countries have a higher cost of living, and thus require a higher minimum wage.

Two outliers in this dataset are Argentina and Turkey, which have increased their minimum wages by 100% or more from January 2022 levels.

Turkey is suffering from an ongoing currency crisis, with the lira losing over 40% of its value in 2021. Prices of basic goods have increased considerably as the Turkish lira continues to plummet. In fact, a 2022 survey found that 70% of people in Turkey were struggling to pay for food.

Argentina, South America’s second-biggest economy, is also suffering from very high inflation. In response, the country announced three minimum wage increases throughout 2022.

Minimum Wage in the U.S.

Within the U.S., minimum wage varies significantly by state. We’ve visualized each state’s basic minimum rate (hourly) using January 2023 data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

US minimum wage

2023-03-17 Update: This map was updated to fix several incorrect values. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

America’s federal minimum wage has remained unchanged since 2009 at $7.25 per hour.

Each state is allowed to set their own minimum wage, as long as it’s higher than the federal minimum. In states that do not set their own minimum, the federal minimum applies.

If we assume someone works 40 hours a week, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 translates to an annual figure of just $15,080 before taxes. California’s minimum wage of $15.50 translates to $32,240 before taxes.

For further perspective, check out our 2022 infographic on the salary needed to buy a home across 50 U.S. cities.

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