Money
Ranked: The World’s Richest Billionaires Over the Past 10 Years
Ranked: The World’s Richest Billionaires Over the Past 10 Years
The last decade has seen a number of changes in the world’s richest billionaires list.
For one, there are new faces at the top of the leaderboard that were never there before. One of the most obvious changes though, is that the richest billionaires have accumulated a lot more wealth in recent years.
Using annual data from Forbes on the richest billionaires, we’ve visualized the wealth and ranking of the top 10 billionaires over the past decade.
Who are the World’s Richest Billionaires?
While the pecking order has fluctuated, the leaderboard remains very exclusive. Out of a possible 10 spots, there are only 19 individuals that have made the list over the last decade.
Here’s the current list of richest billionaires in 2022, including when they first made the list (if in the last decade):
Rank | Name | Country | Net Worth (2022) | First Year on List* |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | Elon Musk | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $219 billion | 2021 |
#2 | Jeff Bezos | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $171 billion | 2016 |
#3 | Bernard Arnault | 🇫🇷 France | $158 billion | - |
#4 | Bill Gates | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $129 billion | - |
#5 | Warren Buffett | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $118 billion | - |
#6 | Larry Page | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $111 billion | 2019 |
#7 | Sergey Brin | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $107 billion | 2021 |
#8 | Larry Ellison | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $106 billion | - |
#9 | Steve Ballmer | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $91 billion | 2020 |
#10 | Mukesh Ambani | 🇮🇳 India | $91 billion | - |
*Billionaires with “-” first made the list at an earlier date. Example: Mukesh Ambani made the 2008 list.
Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist, Bill Gates, is a perennial presence at the top of these lists. Gates is currently at his lowest rank over this time period, but is still in fourth spot. The billionaire has pledged to give away nearly all of his fortune to the eponymously named Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
From 2018 to 2021, Jeff Bezos sat at the top of the world’s richest people ranking, only to be bumped out by Elon Musk. In 2020, Bezos became the first person to amass a $200 billion fortune after Amazon’s stock price surged during the pandemic. In recent months, Bezos’ net worth has taken a hit as Amazon’s share price has fallen back down to Earth.
Today, Elon Musk is the world’s richest person.
The Rich Get Richer
Over time, the median net worth of the richest billionaires has grown significantly.
Year | Median Net Worth of Top 10 Billionaires |
---|---|
2013 | $39 billion |
2014 | $44 billion |
2015 | $49 billion |
2016 | $45 billion |
2017 | $56 billion |
2018 | $71 billion |
2019 | $64 billion |
2020 | $68 billion |
2021 | $97 billion |
2022 | $115 billion |
Most fortunes are held in the form of business equity, real estate, and publicly-traded stocks—all asset classes that have benefited from the era of cheap money and ultra-low interest rates.
Over the decade period, the median net worth of the top 10 billionaires has nearly tripled from $39 billion to $115 billion.
In fact, the first billionaire to pass the $100 billion threshold was Jeff Bezos in 2018, when he took the top spot on the list from Bill Gates. However, now all but two on the top 10 wealthiest list are centibillionaires.
Money
Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation
This graphic illustrates the amount of U.S. currency in circulation globally, by denomination, based on data from the Federal Reserve.
Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation
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.
Have you ever wondered how much U.S. currency is in circulation?
Every year, the U.S. Federal Reserve submits a print order for U.S. currency to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). The BEP will then print billions of notes in various denominations, from $1 bills to $100 bills.
In this graphic, we’ve used the latest Federal Reserve data to visualize the approximate number of bills for each denomination globally, as of Dec. 31, 2022.
Breakdown of U.S. Currency in Circulation
The following table lists all of the data we used to create the visualization above. Note that value figures were rounded for simplicity.
Type of Bill | Number of notes in circulation (billions) | Value ($B) |
---|---|---|
$1 | 14.3 | $14B |
$2 | 1.5 | $3B |
$5 | 3.5 | $18B |
$10 | 2.3 | $23B |
$20 | 11.5 | $230B |
$50 | 2.5 | $125B |
$100 | 18.5 | $1,850B |
$500-10,000* | 0.0004 | n/a |
*$500-10,000 bills are listed as a range, and a total circulation of 0.0004 billion. Not included in graphic.
From these numbers, we can see that $100 bills are the most common bill in circulation, even ahead of $1 bills.
One reason for this is $100 bills have a longer lifespan than smaller denominations, due to people using $100 bills less often for transactions. Some businesses may also decline $100 bills as payment.
Based on 2018 estimates from the Federal Reserve, a $100 bill has a lifespan of over 20 years, which is significantly higher than $1 bills (7 years) and $5 bills (5 years).
If you’re interested in more visualizations on the U.S. dollar, consider this animated chart which shows how the dollar overtook the British pound as the world’s most prominent reserve currency.
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