There were more billionaires in the world than ever before

The number of super-wealthy people in the world increased in 2019 with the number of billionaires surging to a new record high, according to data firm Wealth-X’s Billionaire Census 2020.

There were 2,825 billionaires, an increase of 8.5% year-over-year, more than reversing the decline in the cohort in 2018. There was a 10% growth in the wealth of the world’s billionaires, led by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, making a combined U$9.4 trillion fortune. The average age of a billionaire in 2019 was 66 including 40% who were over 70.

The top 3 countries by billionaire population are: United States – 788 billionaires (up 12%) with wealth of $3.4tr (up 14%), China – 342 billionaires (up 20%) with wealth of $1.1tr (up 16%)

Germany – 153 billionaires (up 5%) with wealth of $477bn (up 8%).
North America and Asia saw the strongest returns, while wealth creation was subdued in the Middle East and Latin America, the source said.