Quick Answer
How many billionaires are there in the world in 2025?
There are 2,755 billionaires across the globe.
We are always hearing how the 1% is how we refer to the wealthy people of the world with millions, billions, and more in net value.
Perhaps that is the correct percentage, but really, how many billionaires are there in the world?
We will attempt to uncover some figures and data about billionaires that will also reveal how many billionaires there are in the world.
We have done the research to find the most accurate and current data on the topic.
Right now, if you had to guess, how many billionaires are there in the world from your viewpoint?
Now, write that down to compare it with the facts and data we share to see how close you are to the number of billionaires we have in this world.
Let’s find out how many billionaires there are in the world.
How Many Billionaires Are There in the World in 2025?
Forbes’ 2021 list of today’s billionaires reveals that there were 2,755 billionaires across the globe in 2021.
In 2020, that number was 660 less.
The average percentage of billionaires per one million individuals equals 35%.
Not only did the world experience a boost of 493 new billionaires that were not included on the list, 86% of them have a higher net value than they had just a year ago.
In other words, 86% of the world’s billionaires have amassed more wealth over the past year.
In 2019, the Forbes’ billionaire list revealed 2,153 people were billionaires, which was 55 fewer than in 2018.
The difference between 2018 to 2019 and between 2020 and 2022 is that there are more billionaires now and those who were already billionaires got wealthier between 2020 and 2022.
In contrast, between 2018 and 2019, about 46% of the world’s billionaires reported declines in their wealth.
2019 was also a year that saw the introduction of 195 new billionaires.
In 2019, some of the new faces to come onto the billionaire scene were Kylie Jenner (makeup mogul), Daniel EK and Martin Lorentzon (Spotify founders), and Adam Bowen and James Monsees (Juul Labs).
In 2021, the world saw an increase of 400 new billionaires.
A few examples of these new billionaires include Rhianna of Barbados (richest female musician and first billionaire to arise from her country), Melanie Perkins of Australia (co-founder of Canva), and Sam Waterson of America (Utah-based gym equipment maker).
The combined total wealth of the world’s billionaires accounts for $13.1 trillion, which has increased from the $8 trillion from March 2020.
There is no doubt that these figures from 2021 have already gone higher.
What Country Is Home to The Most Billionaires?
More than one-quarter of the world’s billionaires call the United States home. The United States has the most billionaires in the world.
Let’s look at this list of the top ten countries with the most billionaires.
- The United States of America: 724 billionaires
- China: 698 billionaires
- India: 140 billionaires
- Germany: 136 billionaires
- Russia: 117 billionaires
- Hong Kong: 71 billionaires
- Brazil: 65 billionaires
- Canada: 64 billionaires
- The United Kingdom: 56 billionaires
- Italy: 51 billionaires
Did you notice the huge jump from 698 to 140 between China and India? You can see that most of the world’s billionaires live in either the United States or China.
At the lower end of the list, there are several countries with only one billionaire. A few of those countries include Nepal, Belgium, Iceland, Zimbabwe, and Hungary. Finland, Poland, Egypt, and the Ukraine have 6 billionaires each.
You can see that most countries have fewer than 100 billionaires.
Who Are the Top Five Billionaires in The World?
2021 was no doubt a record-breaking year for wealth creation and the uptake in billionaires.
More newcomers from all over the world joined the billionaire realm and this is the first time in history where the total combined wealth of all billionaires rached double digit in trillions of dollars.
The Top Five Billionaires of 2021
- 1. Jeff Bezos, Amazon executive with $177 billion in 2021, an increase of $64 billionsince 2020.
- 2. Elon Musk, TESLA and SpaceX with $151 billion, an increase of $126.4 billion since 2020.
- 3. Bernard Arnault, LVMH with $150 billion, which is an increase of $74 billion since 2020.
- 4. Bill Gates, Microsoft with $124 billion, an increase of $26 billion since 2020.
- 5. Mark Zuckerbert, Facebook/Meta with $97 billion, an increase of $42.3 billion since 2020.
Melinda Gates, Bill Gates’ ex-wife joined the realm of billionaires in 2021 with an estimated net worth of $6.1 billion, which pales in comparison to her husband’s, though still substantial.
The world’s newest billionaire is Miriam Adelson who is the widow of the late Sheldon Adelson, casino magnate.
She inherited his stake in the Las Vegas Sands, which accounts for most of her new wealth. She is the richest of the new billionaires with a net worth of about $27.1 billion.
Several women joined the ranks of billionaires over the course of the past year. We shall find out soon enough if it was a record-breaking year for new female billionaires.
It seems that 2021 was a huge record-breaking year in the realm of the wealthy.
Warren Buffet, for the first time since 1993, hasn’t made Forbes’ list of the top five billionaires, came in at number six in 2021 with his $96 billion net worth.
Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Create More Wealth and The New Billionaires?
Now we will address how many billionaires are there in the world since the pandemic and how it affected the world.
Several economists believe that the pandemic magnified the wealth gap in America, creating more issues with income inequality.
Many low-wage workers in several industries lost their jobs during the pandemic where face-to-face contact was a necessity.
However, white collar workers didn’t experience the same issue since they were able to work from home remotely and use technology over face-to-face contact.
Unemployment in the United States was at its all time low in 2020 at 3.5%. The pandemic caused the country to hit an unemployment rate of 6% in 2020.
Even as things reopened, many didn’t get the opportunity to go back to work. Recovery is slow across the globe.
During the pandemic, it seems that the ten richest men in the world doubled their fortunes as 99% of all other humanity fell.
According to Gabriela Bucher, Oxfam International’s executive director, the pandemic publicly and openly uncovered the problem of greed, especially among the wealthy.
What Is the Bloomberg Billionaires Index Today?
We may not have the complete picture of how many billionaires are there in the world based on last year’s figures.
However, at the end of the first quarter of 2022, Bloomberg’s data shows something a bit different from 2021.
- Elon Musk: $232 billion – Up by 7.88 billion
- Jeff Bezos: $186 billion – Up by $4.08 billion
- Bernard Arnault: $148 billion – Up by $2.06 billion
- Bill Gates: $131 billion – Up by $1.665 billion
- Warren Buffet: $124 billion – Down by $1.13 billion
As you can see, the top four on the list have already experienced substantial increases in their net worth in Q1 of 2022.
Recent reports have confirmed that Elon Musk has overtaken the first spot in the richest billionaire’s list. This list includes 500 of the world’s richest billionaires.
Who Are the Most Benevolent and Stingiest Billionaires?
While billionaires have a lot of money, they are like everyone else when it comes to their habits of giving or being stingy.
Let’s take a brief look at who’s the most benevolent among billionaires and who’s the least benevolent.
After all, you can’t discuss how many billionaires are there in the world without checking out what they do with it, can you?
Warren Buffet maintains his benevolence as the biggest philanthropist in recent history. He has a quest to give away over 99% of his fortune.
Most of his billions are dedicated to giving.
Others who are somewhat benevolent include Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Gordon and Betty Moore (Intel).
That said, other than Buffet, the rest of these billionaires are also the stingiest, giving away only 1% of their wealth to charities.
156 billionaires on Forbes’ 2021 list gave less than 1% of their wealth to charity in the past year.
What this means is that even when they give hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to charity, it pales in comparison to what they keep in their own coffers.
Warren Buffet may be the only true philanthropist among the world’s richest billionaires.
While their giving is a good thing to do and it does help others, Buffet goes the extra mile and is working to give away 99% of his wealth compared to their 1% in giving.
Conclusion
Whether these billionaires are benevolent or not, they are the richest people in the world.
Our goal today has been to answer the question of how many billionaires are there in the world.
We feel we have done that. The answer is, there are 2755 billionaires in the world.
Since the markets in fiat and digital currencies are subject to failure and losses, you never know if the billionaires of this world will fall with them, or somehow continue to get wealthier.
Technically, it could go either way.
There are billionaires spread across the globe, but the bulk of them live in the United States or China.
We hope this information about how many billionaires are there in the world has given you some insight into the world of the wealthy.
