Elon Musk was the billionaire whose fortune increased the most during the COVID-19 pandemic. September 2019 to the same month in 2022, the world's richest man added a total of ***** billion U.S. dollars to his net worth. With **** billion dollars, Larry Page added the second highest value to his net worth during the time under consideration. On the other hand, Facebook-founder Mark Zuckerberg recorded a loss of nearly ** billion U.S. dollars during the time period.

As of November 2022, a combined value of **** trillion U.S. dollars was held by billionaires living in the United States. While U.S. billionaire wealth has seen a drop over the last year, it is still more than *** times the amount it was at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dieter Schwarz, according to Forbes, was the wealthiest person in Germany as of 2025, with assets amounting to around 47.8 billion U.S. dollars. Dieter Schwarz is the owner of the Schwarz Gruppe, which owns both the supermarket chains Kaufland and Lidl. Reinhold Würth & Family follows in second place. Reinhold Würth is no longer involved in daily operations, but he remains an influential figure as honorary chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Group. Who are the richest people in Germany? Dieter Schwarz is the owner of the Schwarz Gruppe, which owns both the supermarket chains Kaufland and Lidl. In 2024, the Schwarz Gruppe recorded around 56.16 million euros in revenue. Karl Albrecht Jr. is the owner of the popular discount grocery store chain Aldi Süd. As of 2024, there were over 2,000 Aldi Süd stores in Germany. This, of course, does not include all the stores in other countries such as Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Australia, just to name a few. German salaries Germany currently has the highest GDP in Europe. However, this does not mean that everyone in Germany is a billionaire. The average salary is, in fact, around 48,380 euros. Although the trend is that German salaries have been on the rise since 2000, there has been a dip since 2019. This is probably due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inflation of 2022.

South Africa was home to the highest number of millionaires in Africa as of 2023. The country had ****** high net worth individuals (HNWIs), corresponding to roughly ********* of the total number of millionaires on the continent. Second, in rank, Egypt counted ****** HNWIs. According to the source, approximately ******* HNWIs lived in Africa, each with *** million U.S. dollars or more net assets, excluding government funds. The wealth value refers to assets such as cash, properties, and business interests held by individuals living in a country with fewer liabilities. The rich in Africa Compared to 2020, the number of African millionaires increased by nearly **** percent. This means that ****** people joined the group of individuals with minimum net assets of *** million U.S. dollars. The number of centi- and multimillionaires has increased as well. In 2022, the Nigerian Aliko Dangote held the title of the wealthiest person in Africa. Founder and chairman of Dangote Cement, the largest cement producer in the whole African continent, the billionaire also owns salt and sugar manufacturing companies. His net worth is estimated at nearly ** billion U.S. dollars. Trillions of U.S. dollars in riches Total private wealth in Africa amounted to *** trillion U.S. dollars in 2021, a slight increase from 2020. That year, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had led to job losses, drops in salaries, and the closure of many local businesses. Compared to other African countries, South Africa concentrated the largest private wealth. Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, and Kenya completed the leading wealth markets. The five nations accounted for over ** percent of Africa’s total wealth in 2021.

South Africa concentrated the largest amount of private wealth in Africa as of 2021, some 651 billion U.S. dollars. Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, and Kenya followed, establishing the five wealthier markets in the continent. The wealth value referred to assets, such as cash, properties, and business interests, held by individuals living in each country, with liabilities discounted. Overall, Africa counted in the same year approximately 136,000 high net worth individuals (HNWIs), each with net assets of one million U.S. dollars or more.

 COVID-19 and wealth constraints  

Africa held 2.1 trillion U.S. dollars of total private wealth in 2021. The amount slightly increased in comparison to the previous year, when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to job losses, drops in salaries, and the closure of many local businesses. However, compared to 2011, total private wealth in Africa declined 4.5 percent, constrained by poor performances in Angola, Egypt, and Nigeria. By 2031, however, the private wealth is expected to rise nearly 40 percent in the continent.

 The richest in Africa 

Besides 125 thousand millionaires, Africa counted 6,700 multimillionaires and 305 centimillionaires as of December 2021. Furthermore, there were 21 billionaires in the African continent, each with a wealth of one billion U.S. dollars and more. The richest person in Africa is the Nigerian Aliko Dangote. The billionaire is the founder and chairman of Dangote Cement, the largest cement producer on the whole continent. He also owns salt and sugar manufacturing companies.

As of September 2025, the executive chairman of Meritz Financial Group Cho Jung-ho was the wealthiest person in South Korea, with a net worth of about *** billion U.S. dollars. His net worth increased from *** billion U.S. dollars from the previous year when he rose from seventh to first place. Lee Jae-yong, the chairman of Samsung Electronics, followed with about *** billion dollars. Turbulent times for the wealthy Despite the country's economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19, South Korea’s wealthiest people lost a significant amount of their net worth because of the poorly performing stock market and a weakened currency. Lee Jae-yong overcame the shrinking demand for tech goods and ranked as the wealthiest South Korean, although his net worth the year before was more than *** billion dollars higher. The founder of Kakao, Kim Beom-su, had the same net worth as Lee Jae-yong in 2022. However, he only placed fourth in 2023, losing more than **** billion dollars in net worth within the year. In October 2022, Kakao faced public outrage and criticism because of a service outage. Conglomerates’ dominating position in the South Korean economy   Although the collective wealth of the ** wealthiest people in South Korea fell by about ** percent, conglomerates dominated the market. Samsung Electronics had the highest market capitalization among business groups listed in South Korea, amounting to about *** trillion South Korean won. The position of the largest businesses represented a significant hurdle for start-ups. South Korea had a low survival rate for new companies compared to the OECD average, discouraging the emergence of new businesses. When asked about the most critical challenges, small- and medium-sized business owners answered that increasing revenue and attracting customers were the most difficult.

******************************************************** — was the wealthiest person in Poland, with assets of over ***** billion zloty in 2025. Business operations in Poland  In Poland, business activity can be conducted in the form of various legal forms. There are ***** primary forms: individual business activity (self-employment), a civil partnership, and a commercial company divided into capital and partnerships. Foreigners may open a branch or a representative office in Poland. In 2021, the ownership of foreign entities in Poland was confirmed by *** thousand enterprises. However, the number of foreign entities operating amounted to over **** thousand. The number of newly-established enterprises in Poland is growing year by year. At the end of 2021, there were over **** million active enterprises. In terms of value, the largest company in Poland in 2023 was Dino Polska - the retail chain.The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Poland disrupted the development of enterprises in 2020. In the last quarter of this year, *** business entities declared bankruptcy, most of which operated in the commercial and industrial sectors.    Remuneration in Poland  In 2024, the minimum wage in Poland amounted to **** zloty and it will increase in July to **** zloty. This is the lowest permissible level of remuneration. In Poland, the minimum wage is set annually by the state and means that if you are legally employed on an employment contract, you cannot earn below the level set by the state. However, the average real remuneration decreased by *** percent in 2022 compared to the previous year and amounted to ******* zloty gross.