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A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e. a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually major currencies such as the United States dollar, the euro or the pound sterling. Additionally, a centibillionaire (or centi-billionaire) is commonly used to reference a billionaire worth one hundred billion dollars (100,000,000,000).^[1][2] The American business magazine Forbes produces a global list of known U.S. dollar billionaires every year and updates an Internet version of this list in real time.^[3] However, critics note that Forbes' and other newspaper lists suffer from selection bias and are more likely to include entrepreneurs--who have incentives to publicize their wealth to attract investors and talented workers--than those who obtained their wealth through inheritance or corruption and have both incentives and means to maintain their privacy.^[4][5][6] Forbes acknowledges that its methods and limits of publicly available information mean that the Forbes list of billionaires will be incomplete and less than completely accurate. The American oil magnate John D. Rockefeller became the world's first confirmed U.S. dollar billionaire in 1916, and still holds the title of history's wealthiest individual.^[7]

As of 2018, there are over 2,200 U.S. dollar billionaires worldwide, with a combined wealth of over US$9.1 trillion,^[8] up from US$7.67 trillion in 2017.^[9][10] According to a 2017 Oxfam report, the top eight richest billionaires own as much combined wealth as "half the human race".^[11][12] Concerns about concentrated political power from extreme concentrations of wealth and worries that the political system might be designed to favor the wealthy over the middle class have led to calls for a wealth tax specifically targeted at billionaires.^[5][4]

Current U.S. dollar billionaires

According to the Forbes report released in March 2017, there are currently 2,043 U.S. dollar billionaires worldwide, from 66 countries, with a combined net worth of $7.67 trillion, which is more than the combined GDP of 152 countries.^[10] The majority of billionaires are male, as fewer than 11% (197 of 1,826) on the 2015 list were female billionaires.^[13] In 2015, there were ten LGBT billionaires. The United States has the largest number of billionaires of any country, with 536 as of 2015,^[13] while China, India and Russia are home to 213, 90 and 88 billionaires respectively.^[14][15] As of 2015, only 46 billionaires were under the age of 40,^[13] while the list of American-only billionaires, as of 2010, had an average age of 66.^[16]
In 2019 there is now a record 607 billionaires in the U.S. That includes 14 of the world’s 20 richest. Jeff Bezos is again number 1 in the world, followed by Bill Gates at number 2. ^[17]

Billionaires who own the same wealth as half the world

The number of billionaires that, with assets combined, would own as much money as half the world population, and what transport they would fit on, between years 2010 to 2016^[18]

According to a 2016 Oxfam report, the wealth of the poorest 95% dropped by 38% between 2010 and 2015, despite an increase in the global population of 400 million.^[18] In the same period, the wealth of the richest 62 people between the World's Billionaires increased by $500bn (£350bn) to $1.76tn. This number has fallen dramatically from 388 as recently as 2010. More recently, in 2017 an Oxfam report noted that just eight billionaires own as much combined wealth as "half the human race".^[11][12]

Statistics

The table below lists numerous statistics relating to billionaires, including the total number of known billionaires and the net worth of the world's wealthiest individual for each year since 2008. Data for each year is from the annual Forbes list of billionaires, with currency figures given in U.S. dollars.

See also

References

Further reading

• 
  Ritholtz, Barry (26 December 2016). "Map of World Billionaires by Country and by Origin of Wealth". The Big Picture.