Billionaire wealth boom: Tech moguls propel global surge
The fortunes of billionaires across the globe have more than doubled in less than a decade, according to an analysis by Swiss bank UBS. The report highlights that those in the technology sector, predominantly in the U.S., have been the primary beneficiaries.
From 2015 to 2024, the total wealth of billionaires increased by 121%—from $6.3 trillion to $14 trillion, according to the analysis by Swiss bank UBS. During this period, the number of billionaires worldwide rose from 1,757 to 2,682.
Millionaires worldwide. The U.S. is unmatched
The analysis reveals that the wealth of Chinese billionaires more than doubled from 2015 to 2020, reaching $2.1 trillion, but then—since the coronavirus pandemic—decreased to $1.8 trillion. Meanwhile, the net worth of America's wealthiest consistently increased throughout this period. By 2024, American billionaires had a combined wealth of $6.1 trillion, more than double what it was in 2015.
In Western Europe, the fortune of billionaires increased from $1.5 trillion to $2.1 trillion from 2015 to 2020; however, the growth subsequently slowed. By 2024, their total wealth amounted to $2.7 trillion.
Regarding the number of millionaires—Americans are unmatched. The report for 2024 indicates there were almost 22 million of them (out of a population of about 335 million). China ranks second, with just over 6 million millionaires, roughly twice as many as the next, the United Kingdom. In percentage terms, a significant 38% of the world's millionaires reside in the U.S., 28% in Western Europe, and one in every ten is in China.
The study's authors note, the least profitable sector was real estate, largely due to the pandemic and the rise in interest rates in the United States and Europe.
