In 2023, roughly 1.49 billion adults worldwide had a net worth of less than 10,000 U.S. dollars. By comparison, 58 million adults had a net worth of more than one million U.S. dollars in the same year. Wealth distribution The distribution of wealth is an indicator of economic inequality. The United Nations says that wealth includes the sum of natural, human, and physical assets. Wealth is not synonymous with income, however, because having a large income can be depleted if one has significant expenses. In 2023, nearly 1,700 billionaires had a total wealth between one to two billion U.S. dollars. Wealth worldwide China had the highest number of billionaires in 2023, with the United States following behind. That same year, New York had the most billionaires worldwide.

In 2023, there were nearly 22 million people with a net worth of over one million U.S. dollars in the United States, which put the country on the top of the ranking. China was ranked second in that year, with more than six million individuals with wealth exceeding one million U.S. dollars. The United Kingdom followed in third with around three million millionaires.

Graph and download economic data for Net Worth Held by the Top 0.1% (99.9th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBLTP1246) from Q3 1989 to Q1 2025 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

In 2023, by far the highest number of individuals with net assets of at least ** million U.S. dollars worldwide were residing in North America, reaching over ******* people. Asia recorded the second highest number of UHNWIs in the world with over ******* individuals.A small share owns vast sums of wealthThe vast majority of global wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people. Only *** percent of the global population owns assets worth more than *** million U.S. dollars. The richest people in the world are Elon Mask, Jeff Bezos, and Bernard Arnault. When it comes to women, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers led the ranking of the most affluent women worldwide. The wealth of over ** percent of UHNWIs was self-made. Where UHNWIs live and where they leave Unsurprisingly, as North America is the world region with the highest number of UHNWIs, the United States is the country with the highest UHNWI count. However, Hong Kong, special administrative (SAR) region in China, is the city with the highest number of UHNWIs. Nevertheless, China was the country that recorded the highest outflux of UHNWIs in 2022.

As of April 2025, Elon Musk was estimated as the wealthiest person in the United States with a net worth of around 342 billion dollars. Richest people in the United States - additional information Every year since 1982, the American business magazine Forbes has been compiling lists of the 400 richest people in the United States, known as the “Forbes 400.” In addition to that, since 1987, the publication has also been compiling a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world (excluding royalty and dictators), as well as more specialized tops, such as “World's Most Powerful Women,” “America's Richest Families,” “Most Valuable Brands” or “30 Under 30,” which focuses on young entrepreneurs from various fields which have gained millions in the past year by the use of social media, technical innovations and generally new and fresh approaches to business.

Graph and download economic data for Households; Net Worth, Level (BOGZ1FL192090005Q) from Q4 1987 to Q1 2025 about net worth, Net, households, and USA.

As of March 2025, Elon Musk had a net worth valued at 328.5 billion U.S. dollars, making him the richest man in the world. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos followed in second, with Marc Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, in third. The list is dominated by Americans, and Alice Walton and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers are the only women among the 20 richest people worldwide.

As of March 2025, Alice Walton was ranked the richest woman with over 97 billion U.S. dollars in net worth. By comparison, the richest man in the world had a fortune of over 328 billion dollars as of March 2025. The philanthropy of MacKenzie Scott MacKenzie Scott has become well known in the world of philanthropy for providing billions to thousands of non-profit organizations. Globally, the United States has the most philanthropic outflows out of any nation, reaching nearly 49 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. By comparison, the country with the second highest philanthropic outflows, the United Kingdom, reached nearly 5.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. Across the United States, basic needs, religious and spiritual causes, and healthcare are the sectors affluent individuals have given the most. Wealth in the United States Out of each country, the United States has the most people within the top one percent of ultra-high-net-worth individuals globally, with 21 million residents belonging to this group. By comparison, China ranked second with over five million belonging to the top one percent of ultra-high net worth individuals. Regionally, North America has the most billionaires, reaching over 1,100 followed by Europe and Asia.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2025, the United States housed the highest number of billionaires worldwide in 2025. In detail, there were *** billionaires living in the United States as of January that year. By comparison, *** billionaires resided in China. India, the United Kingdom, and Germany were also the homes of a significant number of billionaires that year. United States has regained its first place As the founder and exporter of consumer capitalism, it is no surprise that the United States is home to a large number of billionaires. Although China had briefly overtaken the U.S. in recent years, the United States has reclaimed its position as the country with the most billionaires in the world. Moreover, North America leads the way in terms of the highest number of ultra high net worth individuals – those with a net worth of more than ***** million U.S. dollars. The prominence of Europe and North America is a reflection of the higher degree of economic development in those states. However, this may also change as China and other emerging economies continue developing. Female billionaires Moreover, the small proportion of female billionaires does little to counter critics claiming the global economy is dominated by an elite comprised mainly of men. On the list of the 20 richest people in the world, only one was a woman. Moreover, recent political discourse has put a great amount of attention on the wealth held by the super-rich with the wealth distribution of the global population being heavily unequal.

The chemical company Linde was the number one leading global chemical company in a 2024 global ranking based on net income, with a net income of approximately **** billion U.S. dollars. Air Products and Chemicals, headquartered in the United States, was ranked second, with a net income of **** billion U.S. dollars. The significance of the global chemical industry The chemical industry is one of the most important foundations for the world’s economy as we know it. One of the primary undertakings of this industry is the transformation of raw materials into industrial chemical products, which are fundamental for other industrial sectors. The principle chemical products are polymers and plastics, which are responsible for nearly ** percent of the industry’s production volume. Excluding the pharmaceutical sector, the global chemical industry's revenue amounts to nearly ***** trillion U.S. dollars in 2022. Prominent national chemical industries: Germany and the United States Germany has an old and well-established chemical industry. Two of the largest chemical companies worldwide, BASF and Bayer, originated there. Although BASF's revenue generated in 2023 amounted to ** billion euros, BASF had a net income of *** million euros that year. Like Germany, the United States is home to many of the world's leading chemical producers. The ubiquitous U.S.-based chemical companies Dow and DuPont, which were joined in September 2017 in the formation of the chemical conglomerate DowDuPont, have since been spun-off again into individual companies with discreet focus areas.

The United States is leading the ranking by number of high networth individuals , recording 26.9 million individuals. Following closely behind is China with 13.9 million individuals, while Lesotho is trailing the ranking with 0 thousand individuals, resulting in a difference of 26.9 million individuals to the ranking leader, the United States. High Net Worth Individuals are here defined as persons with investible assets of at least one million U.S. dollars in current exchange rate terms.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

In 2020, Italy counted approximately 1.2 million individuals boasting a wealth worth over one million U.S. dollars. Individuals in this wealth bracket are forecasted to reach nearly two million in 2025, an increase of approximately 63 percent compared to 2020. When compared to other Western European countries, the number of individuals worth over five million U.S. dollars is less impressive. France, for example, counted about 2.1 million individuals in that wealth bracket in 2019.

Wealthiest individuals in Italy

In 2019, Giovanni Ferrero, the CEO of the Italian confectionary company Ferrero S.p.A., lead the ranking of the wealthiest individuals in Italy published yearly by Forbes. With a total net worth estimated at 22.4 billion U.S. dollars, Ferrero overshadowed Leonardo Del Vecchio, founder of Luxottica, whose fortune amounted to 19.8 U.S. dollars.

Wealthiest individuals in the world

According to the Forbes’ ranking, in 2019, Giovanni Ferrero was the 33th wealthiest person in the world and Leonardo Del Vecchio ranked 41th in the list. Despite their massive fortune, no one can compete with Jeff Bezos. For the second year in a row, the founder of Amazon dominated the Forbes’ ranking: his wealth was estimated at over 131 billion dollars in 2019.

As of March 2025, Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and X (previously known as Twitter), was the richest person in the global tech industry with an estimated net worth of 312 billion U.S. dollars. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, followed with a net worth of 217 billion U.S. dollars. Elon Musk and Twitter/X On October 27th, 2022, Elon Musk bought the social network Twitter for around 44 billion U.S. dollars and became its CEO. Since Musk’s acquisition, the company has experienced some adjustments, including a name change to X and the option for users of becoming verified members for eight U.S. dollars per month. Moreover, there has been reports of increasing hate speech and the platform after Musk's takeover. Other tech billionaires and their companies Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft ranked 5th. Today, Microsoft develops consumer and enterprise software, services, and consumer electronics. In its 2023 financial year, Microsoft generated revenues of just under 212 billion U.S. dollars. By contrast, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, ranked third. The company, previously known as Facebook, was rebranded in 2021 and its products include Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Despite their wealth, these companies are not immune to the layoffs that have plagued the tech industry, which are affecting Meta and Amazon employees the most.

Ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI) are typically defined as individuals who have a net worth of more than ** million U.S. dollars. In 2022, the total value of the art and collectible wealth of UHNWI worldwide amounted to approximately **** trillion U.S. dollars. That year, North America accounted for the highest share of the market, with around *** billion U.S. dollars in UNHWI art and collectible wealth. This figure was forecast to reach an estimated *** trillion U.S. dollars in 2026. The global auction market An important segment of the global art market, auctions are among the most common ways to acquire valuable artworks, antiques, and collectibles. In 2022, the sales value at public auctions of art and antiques worldwide reached nearly ** billion U.S. dollars. When breaking down global public auction sales by country, the United States, China, and the United Kingdom emerged as the leading markets in 2022, generating together more than ** percent of public auction sales worldwide. What are the biggest auction houses in the world? Christie's and Sotheby's, two auction houses founded in the UK in the 1700s, currently dominate the market, ranking as the auction houses with the highest sales value worldwide in 2022. That year, Heritage Auctions and Phillips, another auction house originally founded in the UK in the 18th century, followed in the ranking. In 2022, global sales of Phillips totaled *** billion U.S. dollars, the highest figure reported by the company to date.

As of January 2024, Zhong Shanshan topped the list of the richest people in China with a net worth of 63 billion U.S. dollars. Huang Zheng, founder of Pinduoduo, and Ma Huateng, founder of the IT giant Tencent, came in second and third respectively, while Ma Yun, founder of the IT giant Alibaba, fell back to the tenth place.

Ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI) in China

Net worth refers to the amount of value by which an individual’s assets exceed their liabilities. It is usually cited to demonstrate the economic position of a person. Following China’s extensive economic development over the past two decades, the number of wealthy people had been rapidly growing as well. According to Hurun Research Institute, Greater China was the region with the largest number of billionaires worldwide as of 2024, with a total number of 814 billionaires. As of January 2022, the number of millionaires had amounted to approximately 20,400 people in Beijing alone. Unsurprisingly, the majority of high-net worth individuals lives in one of the four first-tier cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

Chinese billionaire's sources of wealth

Chinese millionaires have accumulated their wealth primarily as private entrepreneurs. Most of the people listed among the 20 wealthiest Chinese in 2024 had owned their own companies. Zhong Shanshan, who topped the list of richest people in China in 2024, has made his fortune as founder of the beverage company Nongfu Spring.

As of January 2024, Johann Rupert and his family are the richest people in South Africa with a net worth of 11.1 billion U.S. dollars. The Rupert family are ranked at 216 globally and are the second richest people in Africa after Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote, reclaimed the title. Rupert's net worth dropped by seven million U.S. dollars from 2023, mainly due to a decline in the market value of luxury goods company Richemont, where he owns an estimated 9.14 percent stake. Nicky Oppenheimer and his family placed as the second richest in South Africa, with a net worth of 9.5 billion U.S. dollars and ranking at 276 worldwide. Their net worth source was mostly founded via the diamond market. They were followed by Koos Bekker, the chairman of media group Naspers, with 3.1 billion U.S. dollars who placed 1,133 globally. Patrice Motsepe, the first black African on the Forbes list and founder of African Rainbow Minerals, ranked 1,140 out of the global billionaires list, with a net worth of three billion U.S. dollars. Where does the wealth reside in the continent? The three largest economies on the continent in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), namely Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa saw the highest concentration of private wealth, with South Africa ranking first when it came to private wealth. In fact, out of Africa’s 20 wealthiest families and individuals, 14 of them were from these economies. Since 2010, the number of high net worth individuals on the continent fluctuated peaking at 148 individuals in 2017 and reaching its lowest in 2020 at 125. High net worth individuals are people whose net assets exceed one million U.S. dollars. On the other hand, South Africa suffered from severe income inequality ranking as the most unequal country in the world with a Gini index of 0.63 points.

Youssou N'Dour was the richest African musician in 2021. The Senegalese musician is among Africa’s most famous singers with a net worth of around 145 million U.S. dollars. In the ranking of the richest African musicians, he was followed by Akon, the American-Senegalese celebrity with a net worth of roughly 80 million U.S. dollars. The South African DJ Black Coffee ranked third in Africa. His net worth amounts to 60 million U.S. dollars.

Youssou N'Dour: music and politics

Born in 1959 in Dakar, Youssou N'Dour started making music during his teenage. He was nominated for prominent music awards throughout his long career as a songwriter, composer, and singer. N'Dour won the Best Song title at the MTV Europe Music Award in 1994 with the song “7 Seconds”. In 2005, he won the Grammy Award for the best contemporary world music album with the album "Egypt." Besides his success in the music industry, N'Dour also actively participated in his country's politics as a Ministry of Tourism between 2012 and 2013. Moreover, he generally engaged in social issues as an activist.

Large growth potential for Africa's music industry

The African continent has gradually emerged as a relevant player in the global music industry. In 2020, Sub-Saharan Africa's recorded music market grew by 10 percent compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, the region accounted for a limited share of the worldwide revenue. Africa and the Middle East contributed only 0.6 percent to the global music publishing revenue in 2020. The sector remains dominated by the United States and Canada, which accounted for around 40 percent of the sales. Europe was another main recorded music market, generating 30 percent of the global revenue.

In 2024, two of the three richest people in Latin America were Mexicans. The leader of the rank was the Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim, the 14th richest person in the world. Slim had a fortune of 102 billion U.S. dollars, derived from his multiple businesses and investments. At third place was a fellow Mexican businessman, German Larrea, with a fortune of nearly 27.3 billion dollars.

Billionaires' wealth distribution Within each country's economy, there exists a relatively small segment of wealthier individuals who contribute significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of their respective countries. In Latin America, Chile stands out for its high concentration of wealth among billionaires, accounting for approximately 16 percent of the GDP. Mexico also exhibits a notable wealth concentration, with billionaires contributing around 12 percent of the country's GDP. Regarding the financial magnitude of these billionaires in Latin America, Mexico leads with an average individual wealth of approximately nine billion dollars, compared to an average wealth per adult of 43,140.
Income inequality In most countries within the region, the GINI Index, which measures income inequality among the population, falls within the range of 40 to 50. Notably, Colombia has the highest level of income inequality in Latin America, at 54.2. As a result of this income inequality, only around 2.8 percent of the population in the region is classified as having a high economic status, while the largest portion of the population consists of non-poor individuals with low incomes, and approximately 281 million people in the region live below the poverty line.

In 2022, ****** was home to the highest number of millionaires, followed by India’s capital New Delhi, and the IT capital - Bengaluru. This comes as no surprise since all three cities have the largest share of high net worth households along with a booming economic outlook. Overall, India had around *** billionaires as of March 2023, and ranked third globally in terms of its ultra-net-worth individuals. A growing wealth gap Despite this, India also has a very high wealth inequality with millions of people living below the poverty line. In fact, according to the last census, the state of Maharashtra (with Mumbai as its capital city) had the highest number of slums across the country with over *** million households. Furthermore, according to a 2015 study on the geography of the super-rich, Bangalore was ranked first in terms of the inequality between its rich and poor, with the wealth of the city’s billionaires being ******* times that of the average per capita GDP in the city. Mumbai came second in this listing, while Delhi was ranked fifth. It's a rich man's world As of 2018, the richest ** percent of Indians owned **** percent of the country’s wealth. The Indian economy was also seen to be one of the fastest growing economies across the world. This indicates the level of unequal distribution of wealth in the country. This is a matter of grave concern and has several implications in terms of the country’s development and progress.

With a market capitalization of 3.12 trillion U.S. dollars as of May 2024, Microsoft was the world’s largest company that year. Rounding out the top five were some of the world’s most recognizable brands: Apple, NVIDIA, Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Amazon. Saudi Aramco led the ranking of the world's most profitable companies in 2023, with a pre-tax income of nearly 250 billion U.S. dollars. How are market value and market capitalization determined? Market value and market capitalization are two terms frequently used – and confused - when discussing the profitability and viability of companies. Strictly speaking, market capitalization (or market cap) is the worth of a company based on the total value of all their shares; an important metric when determining the comparative value of companies for trading opportunities. Accordingly, many stock exchanges such as the New York or London Stock Exchange release market capitalization data on their listed companies. On the other hand, market value technically refers to what a company is worth in a much broader context. It is determined by multiple factors, including profitability, corporate debt, and the market environment as a whole. In this sense it aims to estimate the overall value of a company, with share price only being one element. Market value is therefore useful for determining whether a company’s shares are over- or undervalued, and in arriving at a price if the company is to be sold. Such valuations are generally made on a case-by-case basis though, and not regularly reported. For this reason, market capitalization is often reported as market value. What are the top companies in the world? The answer to this question depends on the metric used. Although the largest company by market capitalization, Microsoft's global revenue did not manage to crack the top 20 companies. Rather, American multinational retailer Walmart was ranked as the largest company in the world by revenue. Walmart also had the highest number of employees in the world.