In this article, we will look at the 25 countries with most billionaires in 2024. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, you can go directly to the 5 Countries With Most Billionaires in 2024.
China Loses 155 Billionaires
The three largest economies in the world including China, India, and the United States lead with the highest number of billionaires in 2024. China and the US have no competition when it comes to paving the way for millionaires to become billionaires due to large markets and growth potential. India is not behind too and is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. China, India, and the US will be the top three largest economies in the world by 2100. China will be the leading economy followed by India and the US. According to the Hurun report for the Global Rich List 2024, the United States added the most billionaires, introducing 109 new billionaires to the list. India was the second best country, adding 84 new people to the list of billionaires. Though foreseeable, China caught most off guard and lost 155 billionaires due to the economic distress and property market crisis.
China’s economy is going through a systemic slowdown. As we mentioned in our article about 36 countries with deflation or dangerously low inflation, China is suffering from low inflation and it could lead to deflation. China had a successive series of declines in its consumer price index (CPI) during 2023, which started falling in January 2023 and continued till July 2023. The CPI plunged from 104 points in January 2023 to 102.7 points in July 2023. China’s bigger issue is its property market crisis. China's real estate development dropped by 9.6% and home sales fell by 6.5% in 2023. More than 50 real estate companies have defaulted on debt due to the property market crash in China. Real estate giant, The China Evergrande Group (OTC:EGRNQ) is one of the many companies facing default. On March 22, Reuters reported that Chinese authorities are looking into PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for its potential role in The China Evergrande Group’s (OTC:EGRNQ) $78 billion fraud. In addition, the Chinese authorities have fined The China Evergrande Group (OTC:EGRNQ) and Chairman Hui Ka Yan 4.2 billion yuan and 47 million yuan, respectively. The company and chairman have been fined for accounting and bond issuance fraud.
Billionaires Benefiting from AI
Globally, billionaires increased by 167 to a total of 3,279 in 2024, as per the Hurun report. New York claimed the first spot for the first time in seven years with 119 billionaires choosing to live there followed by London with 97 billionaires. Artificial Intelligence (AI) was a main cause for the rise of billionaires as half of new billionaires were driven by AI. Around 10% of the billionaires were from financial services, followed by 8% in consumer goods and 7% in food and beverages. Here is what Hurun’s chief researcher, Rupert Hoogewerf, said:
“AI has been the major driver for wealth growth, generating over half of all the new wealth this year. Whilst Jensen Huang has grabbed many of the headlines as NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) broke through the $2 trillion mark and catapulting into the Hurun Top 30 as a result, the billionaires behind Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) have seen significant surges in their wealth as investors bet on the value of generated AI.”
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has been the real deal with a massive success in AI. In the last six months, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock has soared over 100% due to its success in AI, as of March 29. On March 18, the company’s CEO, Jensen Huang, during the NVIDIA GTC 2024 Keynote announced the NVIDIA Blackwell platform. This platform is built on purpose to power the new era of AI computing. The NVIDIA Blackwell GPU will be used in the automotive industry and will be integrated into the NVIDIA DRIVE Thor centralized car computer to support generative AI applications and immersive in-vehicle experiences.
Mark Zuckerberg of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has jumped 12 places to fourth spot among the world’s richest people. Zuckerberg has a net worth of around $170 billion, as of March 29, 2024. A year ago in 2023, Zuckerberg’s net worth was around $90 billion. In the last six months, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares have soared over 185%, as of March 29, driven by the AI hype. On February 1, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) reported earnings for the fourth quarter of 2023. The company posted earnings per share of $5.33, beating consensus estimates by $0.39. The revenue came in at around $40.11 billion, surpassing estimates by $940.64 million. Here are some of the comments from the company’s Q4 2023 earning call:
“This was a good quarter, and it wrapped up an important year for our community and our company. We estimate that there are more than 3.1 billion people who use at least one of our apps each day. 2023 was our year of efficiency, which focused on making Meta a stronger technology company and improving our business to give us the stability to deliver our ambitious long-term vision for AI and the metaverse. And last year, not only did we achieve our efficiency goals, but we returned to strong revenue growth, saw strong engagement across our apps; shipped a number of exciting new products like Threads, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and mixed reality in Quest 3; and of course, established a world-class AI effort that's going to be the foundation for many of our future products.
With this context, let’s take a look at the countries with most billionaires in 2024.
25 Countries With Most Billionaires in 2024
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Our Methodology
For our list of the 25 countries with most billionaires in 2024, we took the data from the Hurun Global Rich List 2024. The countries with most billionaires are ranked in ascending order of the total number of billionaires in 2024. In countries with similar numbers of billionaires, we have used the year-over-year change in total billionaires as a tie-breaker. We have also mentioned the richest person in these countries and we took the data from the Forbes Real Time Billionaires List, as of March 29, 2024.
25 Countries With Most Billionaires in 2024
25. Monaco
No. of Billionaires (2024): 18
Year-over-Year Change: 6
Officially the Principality Monaco is a microstate and is one of the richest places in the world. Monaco saw a rise of six billionaires and has a total of 18 billionaires, as of 2024. Stefano Pessina is the richest person in Monaco and the country ranks 25th among the countries with most billionaires in 2024.
24. Malaysia
No. of Billionaires (2024): 19
Year-over-Year Change: 4
Malaysia is one of the largest economies in Southeast Asia. Malaysia added four billionaires to its list and ranks among the countries with most billionaires in 2024. Robert Kouk is the richest Malaysian with a net worth of $11.4 billion, as of March 29.
23. Mexico
No. of Billionaires (2024): 22
Year-over-Year Change: 3
Mexico saw a rise of three billionaires and is placed 23rd among the countries with most billionaires in 2024. Mexico has a total of 22 billionaires, as of 2024.
22. United Arab Emirates
No. of Billionaires (2024): 24
Year-over-Year Change: 4
The United Arab Emirates is one of the richest Arab countries. Pavel Durov is the richest person in the United Arab Emirates and the country has a total of 24 billionaires in 2024.
21. Sweden
No. of Billionaires (2024): 25
Year-over-Year Change: -2
Stefan Persson is the richest person in Sweden with a net worth of around $18.2 billion, as of March 29. Sweden lost two billionaires and has a total of 25 billionaires, as of 2024. Sweden is one of the countries with most billionaires in 2024.
20. Türkiye
No. of Billionaires (2024): 25
Year-over-Year Change: 5
Türkiye saw a rise of five billionaires and has a total of 25 billionaires, as of 2024. Türkiye ranks 20th among the countries with most billionaires in 2024.
19. Spain
No. of Billionaires (2024): 27
Year-over-Year Change: 1
Spain have a total of 27 billionaires in 2024. The richest person in Spain is Amancio Ortega and he is the 12th richest person in the world with a net worth of $114.1 billion, as of March 29.
18. Israel
No. of Billionaires (2024): 29
Year-over-Year Change: 9
Israel has a total of 29 billionaires in 2024 as it added 9 new billionaires to the list. Israel is one of the countries with most billionaires in 2024.
17. South Korea
No. of Billionaires (2024): 37
Year-over-Year Change: 4
South Korea’s richest person is Jay Y. Lee with a net worth of $11.6 billion, as of March 29. With a total of 37 billionaires, South Korea ranks 17th among the countries with most billionaires in 2024.
16. Singapore
No. of Billionaires (2024): 42
Year-over-Year Change: 5
Singapore saw a rise of 5 billionaires and has a total of 42 billionaires, as of 2024. The richest person in Singapore is Li Xiting with a net worth of $14.5 billion, as of March 29.
15. Japan
No. of Billionaires (2024): 44
Year-over-Year Change: 12
Japan is one of the largest economies in the world and has a total of 44 billionaires, as of 2024. Japan ranks 15th among the countries with most billionaires in 2024.
14. Australia
No. of Billionaires (2024): 45
Year-over-Year Change: 0
The billionaires in Australia remain unchanged in 2024 compared to 2023. With a total number of 45 billionaires, Australia is one of the countries with most billionaires in 2024.
13. Indonesia
No. of Billionaires (2024): 47
Year-over-Year Change: 12
Indonesia’s richest person is Prajogo Pangestu and he has a net worth of around $38.5 billion, as of March 29. Indonesia added 12 new billionaires to its list in 2024.
12. Thailand
No. of Billionaires (2024): 49
Year-over-Year Change: 3
Dhanin Chearavanont is the richest person in Thailand and has a net worth of $11.9 billion, as of March 29. Thailand has 49 billionaires and ranks 12th among the countries with most billionaires in 2024.
11. Canada
No. of Billionaires (2024): 53
Year-over-Year Change: 8
Canada saw a rise of 8 billionaires and have 53 billionaires in 2024. David Thomson is the richest person in Canada and has a net worth of around $67.5 billion, as of March 29.
10. Brazil
No. of Billionaires (2024): 64
Year-over-Year Change: 13
Brazil ranks 10th among the countries with most billionaires in 2024. Brazil added 13 new billionaires and has a total of 64 billionaires, as of 2024. Eduardo Saverin is the richest person in Brazil.
9. France
No. of Billionaires (2024): 68
Year-over-Year Change: -4
France saw a decline of 4 billionaires and has 68 billionaires, as of 2024. French billionaire, Bernard Arnault, is the world’s richest person with a net worth of $227 billion, as of March 29.
8. Italy
No. of Billionaires (2024): 69
Year-over-Year Change: 11
Italy added 11 new billionaires, taking the billionaire list to 69. Giovanni Ferrero is the richest person in Italy with a net worth of around $43.3 billion, as of March 29.
7. Russia
No. of Billionaires (2024): 76
Year-over-Year Change: 6
Russia is one of the countries with most billionaires in 2024. The country has a total of 76 billionaires in 2024 and Vagit Alekperov is the richest person in Russia.
6. Switzerland
No. of Billionaires (2024): 106
Year-over-Year Change: 6
Switzerland has a total of 106 billionaires, as of 2024. Switzerland ranks sixth among the countries with most billionaires in 2024.
