Monday, February 29, 2016

The 15 countries with the most billionaires

Dresden

The number of billionaires in the world has reached a record high of 2,188, according to Hurun, a Chinese research company that focuses on the world’s richest people.

After adding 90 new billionaires since last year, Greater China now leads the pack with 568. The United States is a close second with 535.

“Despite its own slowdown and falling stock markets, China minted more new billionaires than any other country in the world last year, mainly on the back of new listings,” says Rupert Hoogewerf, the founder of Hurun. “Growth in billionaires for the rest of the world was held back by a slowdown in the global economy, the strengthening of the US dollar and the drop in oil prices. The number of billionaires, however, has jumped 50% since 2013.”

Read on to see which other countries cracked the top 15 on the “Hurun Global Rich List 2016.”