Total Wealth of Billionaires Increase by 121% since 2015

The total wealth of billionaires increased by 121% globally from $6.3 trillion to $14 trillion between 2015 and 2024, Zurich-based UBS, a multinational investment bank and financial services company, said on Thursday.

By comparison, the MSCI AC World Index of global equities rose 73%. During this time, the number of billionaires increased from 1,757 to 2,682. The peak was reached in 2021 with 2,686 billionaires. Since then, it has remained flat, UBS said in its 10^th edition of Billionaires Ambitions Report 2024.

The UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report 2024, which tracks the wealth of more than 2,500 billionaires across the Americas, EMEA and APAC, focusing on the last 10 years. The bank also conducted an online survey of the views of a sample of UBS billionaire clients across the world’s main regions.

From 2015 to 2020, billionaire wealth grew globally at an annual rate of 10%. Since 2020, growth has stalled at 1%. But that number masks continued expansion in the US, EMEA and parts of Asia, most notably India, the report said.

“Over this time, the impact of Chinese billionaires’ dynamism and consolidation has been clear as their wealth more than doubled from 2015 to 2020, rising from $887.3 billion to $2.1 trillion. Since then, it has fallen to $1.8 trillion. Even so, the overall number of billionaires remains stable,” the report said.

By contrast, North American billionaire wealth has continued to accumulate. From 2015 to 2020, North American billionaires’ wealth increased from $2.5 trillion to $3.8 trillion. And from 2020 to 2024, it rose 58.5% to $6.1 trillion, led by industrials and tech billionaires.

In Western Europe, wealth accumulation has slowed slightly since 2020 against a backdrop of higher interest rates. It rose from $1.5 trillion to $2.1 trillion from 2015 to 2020, before increasing to $2.7 trillion by 2024, led by tech billionaires in fields ranging from software to messaging and music streaming.

Benjamin Cavalli, Head of Strategic Clients at UBS Global Wealth Management, said that for 10 years, the report has been chronicling the growth and investment of great wealth, as well as how it’s being preserved for future generations and used to have a positive effect on society.

“The latest edition looks back over the report’s discoveries of the past 10 years to identify the key developments in billionaire wealth,” he added.

Migration of Billionaires

The COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call for a lot of people and led them to reassess their lives and billionaires were no exception. With homes, family and businesses spread across different countries, billionaires have always relocated. However, since 2020, they have moved more frequently, with 176 having moved from a total population of 2,682 in April 2024.

They have been relocating to countries such as Switzerland, the UAE, Singapore and the US. In total, billionaires accounting for more than $400 billion have emigrated in four years, with the MEA region attracting the most billionaire capital.

Big Regional Differences

The US billionaires accrued the greatest gains in 2024, reinforcing the country’s place as the main centre for billionaire entrepreneurs worldwide. Their wealth rose 27.6% to $5.8 trillion, accounting for more than 40% of billionaire wealth worldwide. The number of US billionaires increased 11.2% to 835. There were 101 new US billionaires, while 20 individuals saw their wealth drop below a billion.

Central and South America’s billionaires also had a good year. In Brazil, 19 new billionaires lifted the total to 60, and wealth increased 37.7% to $154.9 billion. Overall, Central and South America’s billionaires advanced their wealth by 20.8% to $411.4 billion, while their number grew from 74 to 92.

In the APAC region, the picture was mixed as the billionaires’ wealth from Mainland China and Hong Kong SAR fell 16.8% to $1.8 trillion, while the number dropped from 588 to 501. In a market with a high rate of billionaire churn, 138 people’s wealth fell below a billion, while 53 individuals became billionaires.

Elsewhere in the APAC region, Indian billionaires’ wealth increased 42.1% to $905.6 billion, while their number grew from 153 to 185. Some 40 people became billionaires against the backdrop of rising equity prices and rapid economic expansion.

In EMEA, Western Europe’s total billionaire wealth rose 16% to $2.7 trillion, partly due to a 23.8% increase in Swiss billionaires. The number of Western European billionaires climbed from 456 to 495.

Within the Middle East and Africa, UAE billionaires’ aggregate wealth rose 39.5% to $138.7 billion, with the number of billionaires growing by one to 18. In total, EMEA’s billionaire wealth grew 17% to $3.7 trillion, with the number of billionaires increasing by 70 to 728.