The Geography of the World’s 50 Top Billionaires
The business world has undergone considerable change in the last two decades.
While some fortunes are always reliably passed on to their respective heirs and heiresses, there are also entirely new industries that rise out of nowhere to shape the landscape of global wealth.
As the wealth landscape shifts, so does its geographical distribution.
The 2019 List of Billionaires
Today’s chart uses data from the most recent edition of the Forbes Billionaires List to map the distribution of the world’s richest people, and then compare that to data from 20 years prior.
We’ll start here by looking at the most recent data from 2019:
| Rank | Name | Net Worth ($B) | Citizenship | Industry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Jeff Bezos | 131 | 🇺🇸 USA | Tech, eCommerce |
| #2 | Bill Gates | 96.5 | 🇺🇸 USA | Tech |
| #3 | Warren Buffett | 82.5 | 🇺🇸 USA | Investments |
| #4 | Bernard Arnault | 76 | 🇫🇷 France | Luxury Goods, Cosmetics |
| #5 | Carlos Slim Helu | 64 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | Telecommunications |
| #6 | Amancio Ortega | 62.7 | 🇪🇸 Spain | Apparel |
| #7 | Larry Ellison | 62.5 | 🇺🇸 USA | Tech |
| #8 | Mark Zuckerberg | 62.3 | 🇺🇸 USA | Tech |
| #9 | Michael Bloomberg | 55.5 | 🇺🇸 USA | Media |
| #10 | Larry Page | 50.8 | 🇺🇸 USA | Tech |
| #11 | Charles Koch | 50.5 | 🇺🇸 USA | Diversified |
| #12 | David Koch | 50.5 | 🇺🇸 USA | Diversified |
| #13 | Mukesh Ambani | 50 | 🇮🇳 India | Oil & Gas, Telecoms |
| #14 | Sergey Brin | 49.8 | 🇺🇸 USA | Tech |
| #15 | Francoise Bettencourt | 49.3 | 🇫🇷 France | Cosmetics |
| #16 | Jim Walton | 44.6 | 🇺🇸 USA | Retail |
| #17 | Alice Walton | 44.4 | 🇺🇸 USA | Retail, Art |
| #18 | Rob Walton | 44.3 | 🇺🇸 USA | Retail |
| #19 | Steve Ballmer | 41.2 | 🇺🇸 USA | Tech |
| #20 | Ma Huateng (Pony) | 38.8 | 🇨🇳 China | Tech |
| #21 | Jack Ma | 37.3 | 🇨🇳 China | Tech, eCommerce |
| #22 | Hui Ka Yan | 36.2 | 🇨🇳 China | Real Estate |
| #23 | Beate Heister & Karl Albrecht Jr. | 36.1 | 🇩🇪 Germany | Retail |
| #24 | Sheldon Adelson | 35.1 | 🇺🇸 USA | Casinos |
| #25 | Michael Dell | 34.3 | 🇺🇸 USA | Tech |
| #26 | Phil Knight | 33.4 | 🇺🇸 USA | Apparel |
| #27 | David Thomson | 32.5 | 🇨🇦 Canada | Media |
| #28 | Li Ka-shing | 31.7 | 🇨🇳 China | Developer |
| #29 | Lee Shau Kee | 30.1 | 🇨🇳 China | Developer |
| #30 | François Pinault | 29.7 | 🇫🇷 France | Luxury Goods |
| #31 | Joseph Safra | 25.2 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | Diversified |
| #32 | Leonid Mikhelson | 24 | 🇷🇺 Russia | Oil & Gas |
| #33 | Jacqueline Mars | 23.4 | 🇺🇸 USA | Food |
| #34 | John Mars | 23.9 | 🇺🇸 USA | Food |
| #35 | Jorge Paulo Lemann | 22.8 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | Diversified |
| #36 | Azim Premji | 22.6 | 🇮🇳 India | Tech |
| #37 | Dieter Schwarz | 22.6 | 🇩🇪 Germany | Retail |
| #38 | Wang Jianlin | 22.6 | 🇨🇳 China | Real Estate |
| #39 | Giovanni Ferrero | 22.4 | 🇮🇹 Italy | Food |
| #40 | Elon Musk | 22.4 | 🇺🇸 USA | Automotive, Tech |
| #41 | Tadashi Yanai | 22.2 | 🇯🇵 Japan | Apparel |
| #42 | Yang Huiyan | 22.1 | 🇨🇳 China | Real Estate |
| #43 | Masayoshi Son | 21.6 | 🇯🇵 Japan | Banking, Investments |
| #44 | Jim Simons | 21.5 | 🇺🇸 USA | Investments |
| #45 | Vladimir Lisin | 21.3 | 🇷🇺 Russia | Steel, Transportation |
| #46 | Susanne Klatten | 21 | 🇩🇪 Germany | Automotive, Pharma |
| #47 | Vagit Alekperov | 20.7 | 🇷🇺 Russia | Oil & Gas |
| #48 | Alexey Mordashov | 20.5 | 🇷🇺 Russia | Steel, Investments |
| #49 | Gennady Timchenko | 20.1 | 🇷🇺 Russia | Oil & Gas |
| #50 | Leonardo Del Vecchio | 19.8 | 🇮🇹 Italy | Eyewear |
The most recent billionaires list features Jeff Bezos at the top with $131 billion, although it’s likely his recent divorce announcement will provide an upcoming shakeup to the Bezos Empire.
Bezos is just one of 21 Americans that find themselves in the top 50 list, which means that 42% of the world’s top billionaires hail from the United States.
Billionaire Geography Over Time
If we compare the top 50 list to that from 1999, it’s interesting to see what has changed over time in terms of geographical distribution.
Here’s the distribution of top countries on both lists, compared:
| Citizenship | Top Billionaires (1999) | Top Billionaires (2019) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇷🇺 Russia | 0 | 5 | +5 |
| 🇨🇳 China | 3 | 7 | +4 |
| 🇺🇸 United States | 18 | 21 | +3 |
| 🇧🇷 Brazil | 0 | 2 | +2 |
| 🇮🇳 India | 0 | 2 | +2 |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | 1 | 2 | +1 |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| 🇲🇽 Mexico | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 🇧🇲 Bermuda | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | 3 | 2 | -1 |
| 🇫🇷 France | 5 | 3 | -2 |
| 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 2 | 0 | -2 |
| 🇹🇼 Taiwan | 2 | 0 | -2 |
| 🇸🇪 Sweden | 3 | 0 | -3 |
| 🇨🇭Switzerland | 3 | 0 | -3 |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 7 | 3 | -4 |
In the last 20 years, Russia and China have stockpiled the most top billionaires, adding five and four to the top 50 list respectively. The United States added three, going from 18 to 21 billionaires over the timeframe.
On the other end of the spectrum, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland have lost the most billionaires from the top 50 ranking.
