The rich get richer - the poor get poorer
Billionaires of the World
Forbes list of billionaires is an annual ranking of the world's wealthiest people, compiled and published by Forbes. The total net worth of each individual on the list is estimated, in United States dollars, based on their assets and accounting for debt. The list only represents each person's valuation on a single day, due to daily fluctuations among exchange rates and stock valuations.
The Internet bubble created the most paper wealth for some billionaires. However, once the dotcom bubble burst the new rich saw their fortunes disappear. Billionaires' fortunes have been hit even harder by the global financial crisis. 2009 was the first time in five years that the world had a net loss in the number of billionaires. The strong performance of the financial markets and global economic recovery have erased financial assets losses. Most of the richest people on the planet have seen their fortunes soar in the past few years.
Even though the rest of us are suffering in the present economic climate, the combined worth of the worlds billionaires is rising every year. This year (2013) it is $5.4 TRILLION. Also, except for a blip in 2009, the number of billionaires is also rising every year. There are 1426 of them this year.
|
Year |
Number of billionaires |
Group's combined net worth |
|
2013 |
1,426 |
$5.4 trillion |
|
2012 |
1,226 |
$4.6 trillion |
|
2011 |
1,210 |
$4.5 trillion |
|
2010 |
1,011 |
$3.6 trillion |
|
2009 |
793 |
$2.4 trillion |
|
2008 |
1,125 |
$4.4 trillion |
|
2007 |
946 |
$3.5 trillion |
|
2006 |
793 |
$2.6 trillion |
|
2005 |
691 |
$2.2 trillion |
|
2004 |
587 |
$1.9 trillion |
|
2003 |
476 |
$1.4 trillion |
|
2002 |
497 |
$1.5 trillion |
|
2001 |
538 |
$1.8 trillion |
|
2000 |
470 |
$898 billion |
2013 Top 10
|
No. |
Name |
Age |
Source(s) of wealth |
||
|
1 |
$73.0 billion |
73 |
|||
|
2 |
$67.0 billion |
57 |
|||
|
3 |
$57.0 billion |
76 |
|||
|
4 |
$53.5 billion |
82 |
|||
|
5 |
$43.0 billion |
68 |
|||
|
6 |
$34.0 billion |
77 |
|||
|
7 |
$34.0 billion |
72 |
|||
|
8 |
$31.0 billion |
84 |
|||
|
9 |
$30.0 billion |
90 |
|||
|
10 |
$29.0 billion |
63 |
2012 Top 10
|
No. |
Name |
Age |
Source(s) of wealth |
||
|
1 |
$69.0 billion |
72 |
|||
|
2 |
$61.0 billion |
56 |
|||
|
3 |
$44.0 billion |
81 |
|||
|
4 |
$41.0 billion |
63 |
|||
|
5 |
$37.5 billion |
75 |
|||
|
6 |
$36.0 billion |
67 |
|||
|
7 |
$30.0 billion |
55 |
|||
|
8 |
$26.0 billion |
64 |
|||
|
9 |
$25.5 billion |
83 |
|||
|
10 |
$25.4 billion |
92 |
2011 Top 10
|
No. |
Name |
Age |
Source(s) of wealth |
||
|
1 |
$74.0 billion |
71 |
|||
|
2 |
$56.0 billion |
56 |
|||
|
3 |
$50.0 billion |
81 |
|||
|
4 |
$41.0 billion |
62 |
|||
|
5 |
$39.5 billion |
66 |
|||
|
6 |
$31.1 billion |
60 |
|||
|
7 |
$31.0 billion |
74 |
|||
|
8 |
$30.0 billion |
53 |
|||
|
9 |
$27.0 billion |
53 |
|||
|
10 |
$26.5 billion |
55 |
2010 Top 10
|
No. |
Name |
Age |
Source(s) of wealth |
||
|
1 |
$53.5 billion |
70 |
|||
|
2 |
$53.0 billion |
54 |
|||
|
3 |
$47.0 billion |
80 |
|||
|
4 |
$29.0 billion |
53 |
|||
|
5 |
$28.7 billion |
60 |
|||
|
6 |
$28.0 billion |
66 |
|||
|
7 |
$27.5 billion |
61 |
|||
|
8 |
$27.0 billion |
53 |
|||
|
9 |
$25.0 billion |
74 |
|||
|
10 |
$23.5 billion |
90 |
2009 Top 10
|
No. |
Name |
Age |
Source(s) of wealth |
||
|
1 |
$40.0 billion |
53 |
|||
|
2 |
$37.0 billion |
78 |
|||
|
3 |
$35.0 billion |
69 |
|||
|
4 |
$22.5 billion |
64 |
|||
|
5 |
$22.0 billion |
83 |
|||
|
6 |
$21.5 billion |
89 |
|||
|
7 |
$19.5 billion |
51 |
|||
|
8 |
$19.3 billion |
58 |
|||
|
9 |
$18.8 billion |
87 |
|||
|
10 |
$18.3 billion |
73 |
2008 Top 10
|
No. |
Name |
Age |
Source(s) of wealth |
||
|
1 |
$62.0 billion |
78 |
|||
|
2 |
$60.0 billion |
68 |
|||
|
3 |
$58.0 billion |
52 |
|||
|
4 |
$45.0 billion |
57 |
|||
|
5 |
$43.0 billion |
50 |
|||
|
6 |
$42.0 billion |
48 |
|||
|
7 |
$31.1 billion |
41 |
|||
|
8 |
$31.0 billion |
81 |
|||
|
9 |
$30.0 billion |
76 |
|||
|
10 |
$28.0 billion |
40 |