French billionaire Bernard Arnault (Photo: BI).
According to data from Swiss bank UBS, the number of billionaires in the world increased from 2,376 to 2,542 between 2022 and 2023. Their total assets also increased by 9%, from 11,000 billion USD to 12,000 billion USD.
"After falling by nearly a fifth in the previous year, global billionaire wealth recovered last year, thanks in part to billionaires in the retail and consumer sectors in Europe," UBS said.
Among the new billionaires, the wealth of inherited billionaires ($150.8 billion) exceeded the total wealth of self-made billionaires ($140.7 billion), according to the report. The transfer of wealth across generations is on the rise as billionaires have more money to pass on to the next generation, UBS said.
"This year's report shows that the majority of billionaires who accumulated their wealth last year did so through inheritance rather than business. This is a trend we expect to see more of over the next 20 years, as more than 1,000 billionaires pass on $5.2 trillion to their children," said Benjamin Cavalli, chief strategic client officer at UBS Global Wealth Management.
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