The United States continues to lead the world for billionaires – led by Elon Musk who could become the first ever trillionaire - with the population of these super-wealthy people growing according to a new report.
There were 1,050 US-based billionaires in 2023, up 9.9% year-over-year, with a combined wealth of almost $5 trillion. This puts the US well ahead of the second-placed China with 305 billionaires (down almost 15% year-over-year) with a combined $1.7 trillion.
The stats are from New York based Altrata’s Billionaire Census, which reveals that America is home to almost one third of the world's billionaires who hold 40% of the world's billionaire wealth. Their investment in the US tech-focused stock market has helped this outperformance and offset slight currency weakness and political instability.
Billionaires make up less than 1% of the world’s ultra-high-net-worth population (assets of $30 million or more) but hold 25% of its wealth. There is also an elite 0.5% of billionaires with fortunes of $50 million or more. This cohort is just 18 people and they account for 16% of billionaire wealth, a dramatic increase from 4% in 2014.
New York is the city with the most billionaires at 144, followed by Hong Kong (107), and San Francisco (87) in the top three. Los Angeles - with 62 billionaires - is the only other US city in the top 15.
Women are growing their share of the billionaire population but account for just 13%, with three quarters having inherited their wealth while 24% are self-made billionaires compared to 65% of men.
The average age of female billionaires is 67, slightly lower than for men, while 13% of women in the cohort are under 50, a group which added Taylor Swift during this year.
Women billionaires are most likely to be professionals in the nonprofit space and financial services while those who are self-made are most commonly from financial services or tech.
The report also found that billionaire women are 1.5 times more likely to own high-end real estate and 1.3 times more likely to own valuable art than male billionaires.
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