Wealth
The Richest People in the World in 2022
The Richest People in the World in 2022
Today, the 10 richest people in the world control $1.3 trillion in wealth.
This scale of wealth is equal to approximately 1.3% of the world economy, Amazon’s entire market cap, or spending $1 million a day over 3,000 years. In fact, it’s almost double the amount seen two years ago ($663 billion).
As billionaire wealth accumulates at a remarkable speed, we feature a snapshot of the world’s richest in 2022, based on data from the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.
Top 10 Richest People in the World
Elon Musk, with a fortune of $266 billion, is the richest person on the planet.
Despite supply chain bottlenecks, Tesla deliveries have increased 27% since the second quarter of 2021. Musk, who is also CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX, plans to send the largest rocket ever built into orbit in 2022. It spans 119 meters tall.
Here are the richest people in the world, based on data as of September 13, 2022:
Rank | Name | Source | Net Worth (Sep 2022) | Net Worth (Mar 2021) | Change 2021-2022 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Elon Musk | Tesla, SpaceX | $266B | $151B | $115B |
2 | Bernard Arnault & family | LVMH | $160B | $150B | $10B |
3 | Gautam Adani & family | Infrastructure, Commodities | $151B | $51B | $100B |
4 | Jeff Bezos | Amazon | $150B | $177B | -$27B |
5 | Bill Gates | Microsoft | $107B | $124B | -$17B |
6 | Larry Ellison | Oracle | $104B | $93B | $11B |
7 | Warren Buffett | Berkshire Hathaway | $97B | $96B | $1B |
8 | Mukesh Ambani | Diversified | $95B | $85B | $10B |
9 | Larry Page | $90B | $92B | -$2B | |
10 | Sergey Brin | $86B | $89B | -$3B |
With a net worth of $150 billion, Jeff Bezos sits in fourth place. Since last March, Amazon shares have fallen over 20% in light of inflationary price pressures and lagging retail performance.
Most notably, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook) fell off the top 10 for the first time since 2016. Meta shares plunged after reporting the first-ever drop in global daily active users since 2004.
Growth Rates of the Top 10 Overall
Among the 10 richest people in the world, here’s who saw their wealth rise the fastest:
Gautam Adani saw his fortune rise more than any other in this top 10 list. Adani heads one of the three largest industrial conglomerates in India. In the coming years, Adani plans to invest $70 billion in the renewable energy sector.
Like Adani, Musk saw his wealth rise among the fastest, even as Tesla shares have declined over 30% since their peak in November.
Crypto Billionaires in 2022
Even amid the crypto winter, at least ten people worldwide have seen their wealth climb into the billions thanks to the stratospheric rise of cryptocurrencies.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX crypto derivatives exchange, is at the top, with a jaw-dropping $18 billion net worth. Bankman-Fried launched the exchange in 2019 when he was 27.
FTX now has one million users and a $32 billion valuation.
Rank | Name | Net Worth | Age (as of Sep 2022) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Sam Bankman-Fried | $18B | 30 |
2 | Changpeng Zhao | $17B | 45 |
3 | Gary Wang | $5B | 29 |
4 | Song Chi-hyung | $3B | 43 |
5 | Brian Armstrong | $3B | 39 |
5 | Chris Larsen | $3B | 62 |
6 | Jed McCaleb | $3B | 47 |
7 | Cameron Winklevoss | $2B | 41 |
8 | Tyler Winklevoss | $2B | 41 |
9 | Barry Silbert | $2B | 46 |
Following Bankman-Fried is Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance. It is the largest exchange globally.
Also on the list are co-founders of Gemini cryptocurrency exchange Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, each with a net worth of over $2 billion. Like their rival, Mark Zuckerberg, they have their sights on building a metaverse.
Larger Shifts
Will billionaire wealth continue to accumulate at record rates? As the invasion of Ukraine presses on, it will likely have broader structural outcomes.
Some argue that war is a great leveler, a force that has reduced wealth inequality, as seen in the aftermath of WWII. Others suggest that it increases wealth divergence, especially when the war is financed by public debt. Often, costs have become inflated due to war, putting pressure on low and middle-income households.
Whether or not the war will have lasting effects on wealth distribution is an open question, however, if the pandemic serves as any precedent, the effects will be far from predictable.
Money
Charted: Which Country Has the Most Billionaires in 2024?
According to the annual Hurun Global Rich List, the U.S. and China are home to nearly half of the world’s 3,279 billionaires in 2024.
Charted: Which Country Has the Most Billionaires in 2024?
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The world has always had people with incredible wealth: from Roman emperors to John D. Rockefeller who became the world’s first billionaire in measurable dollars. But where do the very wealthiest people live right now?
We visualize the countries with the most billionaires in 2024, sourced from the annual Hurun Global Rich list. A country and city aggregate is also available here.
A caveat to this data. Total wealth estimates are notoriously difficult to get right, and different sources can vary in their billionaire data. For example, Forbes, switches ranks for the U.S. and China, though the overall top three remain the same.
Forbes also has Bernard Arnault as the current richest individual, while Hurun places Elon Musk atop the ranks. Nevertheless, their overall top 10 is similar with a few ranking differences.
Ranked: Countries with the Most Billionaires in 2024
China has 814 billionaires, the most in the world, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2024. Despite holding on to the top spot, China lost 155 billionaires year-over-year, while the U.S. gained 109. The gap between the two countries has now reduced to just 14 billionaires.
Rank | Country | Billionaires | Change YoY |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 🇨🇳 China | 814 | -155 |
2 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | 800 | +109 |
3 | 🇮🇳 India | 271 | +84 |
4 | 🇬🇧 UK | 146 | +12 |
5 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 140 | -4 |
6 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 106 | +6 |
7 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 76 | +6 |
8 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 69 | +11 |
9 | 🇫🇷 France | 68 | -4 |
10 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | 64 | +13 |
11 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 53 | +8 |
12 | 🇹🇭 Thailand | 49 | +3 |
13 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 47 | +12 |
14 | 🇦🇺 Australia | 45 | 0 |
15 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 44 | +12 |
16 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | 42 | +5 |
17 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 37 | +4 |
18 | 🇮🇱 Israel | 29 | +9 |
19 | 🇪🇸 Spain | 27 | +1 |
20 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 25 | -2 |
N/A | 🌍 Other | 327 | N/A |
Together, the U.S. and China account for nearly half of the 3,279 billionaires globally, leagues ahead of closest peers, #3 India (271) and #4 UK (146).
Collectively however, European countries account for six of the top 10 and eight of the top 20 countries with the most billionaires.
Naturally, the world’s largest economies tend to be overrepresented on billionaire counts, as they provide more opportunities for wealth creation.
Switzerland, Singapore, and Sweden are outliers in this regard, with only one of them making the top 20 economies by total gross domestic product.
All three countries are perceived to have high tax rates, generally not conducive to amassing wealth. But perceptions can be misleading. Sweden, for example, has no inheritance tax, a flat rate on capital gains, and a corporate tax rate at 21%.
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