The wealth of billionaires around the world more than doubled over the last decade (+121%), reaching $14,000 billion, according to UBS. The number of these “ultra-rich” has increased by more than half, now totaling 2,682 individuals, a sharp increase in the technology sector.
From 2015 to 2020, the total wealth of billionaires grew at an average annual rate of 10%. Since 2020, this growth has “stagnant”, however, at an annual rate of 1%, specifies the report. UBS Billionaire Ambition published Thursday by the major Swiss bank.
It is in China that the dynamism of the fortunes of billionaires has been most marked. Their assets more than doubled between 2015 and 2020, increasing by 137.6%, to $2.1 trillion. Since then, they have fallen by 16%, to 1800 billion, while the total number of billionaires in this country has remained stable.
Significant surge in the United States in 2024
In North America, the wealth of large fortunes increased by 52% between 2015 and 2020, reaching 3,800 billion. But, unlike the Chinese, these billionaires saw their money grow by another 58.5% between 2020 and 2024, to amount to 6,100 billion, “under the impetus of industrial and technological billionaires”.
In the United States, their fortune is also the one that has taken off the most in 2024, by 27.6% to 5,800 billion, which represents more than 40% of the global wealth of billionaires. The year was also successful in Central and South America where the money of the wealthy soared by 20.8% to reach 411.4 billion.
In Western Europe, if billionaires saw their earnings increase by 40% between 2015 and 2020, to 2,100 billion, since 2020, this growth has slowed slightly, reaching 2,700 billion. It was led “by billionaires active in sectors such as software, messaging or music streaming,” explains the bank.
Tech boom
His study, conducted among 2,500 billionaires across the planet, highlights the increasingly significant role of tech entrepreneurs in wealth creation. It has accelerated the fastest of any sector there, tripling to $2.4 trillion in 2024.
“The rise of generative artificial intelligence as well as cybersecurity, fintech, 3D printing and robotics are currently gaining importance,” note its authors.
Next come the industrial billionaires whose wealth increased from $480.4 billion to $1.3 trillion. “Industrial policy interventions benefit technologically advanced companies such as aerospace, defense and electric vehicle manufacturers.”
The furthest behind sector is real estate, which has declined significantly since 2017. Possible explanations put forward include the combination of the real estate correction in China, Covid-19-induced upheaval and rising interest rates in the United States. United and Europe from 2022.
ats/ami
