World’s 3,000 billionaires worth $16 trillion: Forbes

A record 3,028 people around the globe make Forbes’ annual World’s Billionaires list this year, 247 more than last year, worth a record $16.1 trillion, according to the latest list published on Tuesday.

This number is $2 trillion more than a year ago and more than the GDP of every country in the world besides the U.S. and China, added Forbes. The average fortune now stands at $5.3 billion, up $200 million from 2024.

Who tops this year’s list?

The U.S. has the most billionaires with 902, followed by China (including Hong Kong) at 516. India has the third most with 205.

Elon Musk tops the list with an estimated $342 billion. Musk added $147 billion to his fortune over the past year, thanks to a blockbuster year for his rocket company SpaceX and his AI firm xAI (which he merged with his social media giant X last week).

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Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg (estimated net worth: $216 billion), who ranks number 2 for the first time.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($215 billion) ranks number 3 and Oracle’s Larry Ellison ($192 billion) ranks fourth. Bernard Arnault ($178 billion), meanwhile, slides down to fifth, his lowest rank since 2017, amid a slump in shares of his luxury conglomerate LVMH.

Interestingly, US President Donald Trump’s net worth has more than doubled, from an estimated $2.3 billion to an estimated $5.1 billion.

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New entrants

In all, 288 fresh faces join the annual Billionaires ranking this year.

That includes celebrities such as rockstar Bruce Springsteen ($1.2 billion), movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger ($1.1 billion) and comedian Jerry Seinfeld ($1.1 billion).

The world’s richest woman is now Walmart heir Alice Walton ($101 billion), who has overtaken French L’Oreal heir Francoise Bettencourt Meyers ($81.6 billion) for the top spot among women.

Forbes found just 113 self-made women around the globe, the richest of whom is Swiss shipping tycoon Rafaela Aponte-Diamant ($37.7 billion).

India ranks 4th in global billionaire wealth, behind US, China, Japan