Each year the world experiences the transition of wealth, where many billionaires drop their wealth and become millionaires, and many millionaires gain wealth to become billionaires. Billionaires across the globe lost wealth by 5.5% in 2022, compared to 2021. The global number of billionaires rose by 7% worldwide over the 12 months ended April 6, 2023, as reported in the UBS Billionaires Ambition Report. By the end of the reporting period, the total number of global billionaires stood at 2,544, up from 2,376, as of April 6, 2022. Billionaires' wealth recovered by 9% from $11 trillion to $12 trillion in 2023. The period between April 6, 2022, and April 6, 2023, has been a good time for rich people as they recovered their wealth partially driven by Europe’s consumer and retail businesses.
Rich people are of two types, those who inherit generational wealth and those who are self-made. Some billionaires who inherited their wealth belong to the oldest richest families. Billionaires have gathered huge wealth over the past few decades. Many founders are passing on their wealth and business empires to the next generation. For the first time in nine years, new billionaires acquired greater wealth through inheritance than entrepreneurship. In 2023, 53 heirs inherited wealth worth $150.8 billion, surpassing a total wealth of $140.7 billion made by new self-made billionaires. Overall, a total of 137 individuals became billionaires for the first time with an accumulated wealth of $291.5 billion. In Asia-Pacific, the inheritors totaled an average wealth of $2 billion in 2023, more than entrepreneurs’ $1.6 billion wealth. In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the inheritors’ average wealth stood at $4.4 billion, twice as much as the entrepreneurs who generated an average wealth of $2.2 billion in 2023. In the Americas, the inheritors received $2.2 billion compared to entrepreneurs’ wealth of $1.5 billion.
Over the next 20 to 30 years, more than 1,000 billionaires are expected to transfer their wealth worth $5.2 trillion to their heirs, as per UBS. Almost 68% of billionaires with inherited wealth plan to continue and expand their generational business empires, and create brands, or assets, just like their forebears. 60% of these billionaires want to provide benefits and wealth-creation opportunities for the next generation.
Countries with the most billionaires per capita include Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, and Sweden, among others. France is home to Europe’s richest billionaires with 34 individuals having an accumulated wealth of $501.6 billion. The richest billionaire in France is Bernard Arnault. The US continues to be home to the most billionaires in the world and Elon Musk is the richest billionaire in America.
Companies Owned by The Richest Billionaires
The richest billionaires in the world own some of the leading companies that operate globally. Elon Musk, who is the richest billionaire in the world with a net worth of approximately $245 billion, owns top-tier firms including Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), The Boring Company, and Neuralink, among others. India’s richest person, Mukesh Ambani, runs one of the country’s largest corporate groups Reliance Industries Limited (NSE:RELIANCE). Similarly, Chinese billionaire Colin Huang is the founder of PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD), which owns and operates the e-commerce platforms Pinduoduo and Temu.
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is one of the most prominent electric vehicle manufacturers in the world. On December 2, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) revealed its latest Cybertruck, which was launched two years behind schedule. Overall, the customers are disappointed by what Musk had promised them. The Cybertruck starts at $60,990, which is nearly 50% more expensive than what Elon Musk had touted in 2019. The Cybertruck is the hot talk as it is getting huge attention across the US.
Reliance Industries Limited (NSE:RELIANCE) is India’s multinational conglomerate that specializes in numerous industries including petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. On October 27, Reliance Industries Limited’s (NSE:RELIANCE) subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, successfully tested India’s first satellite-based giga fiber service, JioSpaceFiber. The new satellite giga fiber service will provide high-speed broadband services to newer places within the country - where service was inaccessible previously.
PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) is China’s top online retailer with a focus on the traditional agriculture industry. On November 28, PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) announced earnings for the third quarter of 2023. The company posted earnings per share of $1.63, beating estimates by $0.47. PDD Holdings Inc.’s (NASDAQ:PDD) revenue came in at $9.58 billion, surpassing market consensus by $2.23 billion. With the continuous recovery of the Chinese economy, PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) came on top with its quarterly results. Here are some of the comments from the Q3 2023 earnings call:
“In Q3, we achieved a total revenue of RMB 68.8 billion, representing a 94% year-on-year increase. This is a result of the improving consumer sentiment in our efforts to carrying out the high-quality development strategy. As one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China, we clearly felt a continuous recovery of the economy as well as the potential and the resilience of a consumption market. With the introduction of a series of policies to support consumption, we are also seeing robust demand for consumption upgrades. Consumer behavior is telling us that consumption upgrade is not just about quality, but equally about price.”
These were a few leading global firms owned by some of the richest billionaires in the world. Now, let’s take a look at the countries with the highest number of billionaires in 2023.
40 Countries with Highest Number of Billionaires in 2023: New UBS Report
40 Countries with Highest Number of Billionaires in 2023: New UBS Report
Our Methodology
To compile our list of the countries with the highest number of billionaires in 2023, we took data on the number of billionaires for each country from the UBS Billionaires Ambition Report 2023. We calculated billionaires per capita by dividing the number of billionaires in each country by the population of that country, and mentioned it as our secondary metric. The country with the same number of billionaires is ranked based on a higher number of billionaires per capita. We took the population data of countries from the World Bank Population Database. The list is ranked in ascending order of the number of billionaires in each country.
40 Countries with Highest Number of Billionaires in 2023: New UBS Report
40. Colombia
Number of Billionaires (2023): 1
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.000000019
Officially the Republic of Colombia has one billionaire, Luis Carlos Sarmiento, who owns Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A. (NYSE:AVAL). With billionaires per capita of 0.000000019, Colombia makes it to our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
39. Lebanon
Number of Billionaires (2023): 2
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000036
Lebanon is located in the Middle East and the country has two billionaires. Lebanon’s billionaires per capita of 0.00000036 makes it rank among the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
38. Nigeria
Number of Billionaires (2023): 3
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.000000014
Nigeria has three billionaires and makes it to our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023. Nigeria has a billionaire per capita of 0.000000014.
37. Egypt
Number of Billionaires (2023): 4
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.000000036
Egypt has four billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.000000036. Ranked 37th on our list, Egypt is one of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
36. Argentina
Number of Billionaires (2023): 4
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.000000086
Argentina also has four billionaires and makes it to our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023. Argentina has a billionaire per capita of 0.000000086.
35. Peru
Number of Billionaires (2023): 4
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000012
Peru has four billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.00000012. Ranked 35th on our list, Peru is one of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
34. Ireland
Number of Billionaires (2023): 4
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000077
With four billionaires and a billionaires per capita of 0.00000077, Ireland makes it to our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
33. South Africa
Number of Billionaires (2023): 5
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.000000083
South Africa has five billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.000000083. South Africa is ranked among the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
32. Saudi Arabia
Number of Billionaires (2023): 6
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000016
Saudi Arabia has six billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.00000016. Saudi Arabia ranks at the 32nd spot among the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
31. Chile
Number of Billionaires (2023): 6
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000031
With six billionaires and a billionaires per capita of 0.00000031, Chile makes it to our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
30. Denmark
Number of Billionaires (2023): 7
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.0000012
Denmark has seven billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.0000012. Ranked 30th on our list, Denmark is one of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
29. Finland
Number of Billionaires (2023): 7
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.0000013
Finland has seven billionaires and makes it to our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023. Finland has a billionaire per capita of 0.0000013.
28. Norway
Number of Billionaires (2023): 9
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.0000016
With nine billionaires and a billionaires per capita of 0.0000016, Norway makes it to our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
27. Netherlands
Number of Billionaires (2023): 10
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000056
The Netherlands has 10 billionaires and ranks among the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023. The Netherlands has a billionaire per capita of 0.00000056.
26. Austria
Number of Billionaires (2023): 12
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.0000013
Austria has 12 billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.0000013. Austria ranks among the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
25. Mexico
Number of Billionaires (2023): 14
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000011
Mexico has 14 billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.00000011. Mexico ranks 25th on our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
24. Philippines
Number of Billionaires (2023): 14
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000012
With 14 billionaires and a billionaires per capita of 0.00000012, the Philippines makes it to our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
23. Malaysia
Number of Billionaires (2023): 14
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000041
Malaysia has 14 billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.0000013. Malaysia ranks among the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
22. United Arab Emirates
Number of Billionaires (2023): 17
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.0000018
The United Arab Emirates has 17 billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.0000018. The United Arab Emirates ranks 22nd on our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
21. Indonesia
Number of Billionaires (2023): 24
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.000000087
Indonesia has 24 billionaires and ranks among the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023. Indonesia has a billionaire per capita of 0.000000087.
20. Spain
Number of Billionaires (2023): 24
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000050
Spain has 24 billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.00000050. Ranked 20th on our list, Spain is one of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
19. Sweden
Number of Billionaires (2023): 26
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.0000025
Sweden has 26 billionaires and ranks among the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023. Sweden has a billionaire per capita of 0.0000025.
18. Israel
Number of Billionaires (2023): 26
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.0000027
Israel also has 26 billionaires and has a billionaire per capita of 0.0000027. Israel ranks among the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
17. Thailand
Number of Billionaires (2023): 28
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000039
Thailand has 28 billionaires and makes it to our list of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023. Thailand has a billionaire per capita of 0.00000039.
16. South Korea
Number of Billionaires (2023): 32
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000062
South Korea has 32 billionaires with a billionaires per capita of 0.00000062. Ranked 16th on our list, South Korea is one of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
15. France
Number of Billionaires (2023): 34
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000050
France is one of the leading European countries with the most billionaires. The total wealth of France’s 34 billionaires was reported at $501.6 billion, as of April 6, 2023.
14. Japan
Number of Billionaires (2023): 38
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.00000030
Japan’s number of billionaires increased from 27 in 2022 to 38 in 2023. With a billionaires per capita of 0.00000030, Japan is one of the leading Asian countries with highest number of billionaires.
13. Australia
Number of Billionaires (2023): 41
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.0000016
Australia has 41 billionaires with a billionaires per capita of 0.0000016. Ranked 13th on our list, Australia is one of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
12. Singapore
Number of Billionaires (2023): 41
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.0000073
Singapore’s number of billionaires increased from 34 in 2022 to 41 in 2023. With a billionaires per capita of 0.0000073, Singapore ranks among the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
11. Canada
Number of Billionaires (2023): 42
Billionaires Per Capita: 0.0000011
Canada has 42 billionaires and has a billionaires per capita of 0.0000011. Canada is one of the countries with highest number of billionaires in 2023.
