ZURICH (AFP) – Billionaires have seen their combined wealth shoot up 121 per cent over the past decade to USD14 trillion, Swiss bank UBS said, with tech billionaires’ coffers filling the fastest.
Switzerland’s biggest bank, which is among the world’s largest wealth managers, said the number of dollar billionaires increased from 1,757 to 2,682 over the past 10 years, peaking in 2021 with 2,686.
The 10th edition of UBS’s annual Billionaire Ambitions report, which tracks the wealth of the world’s richest people, found that billionaires have comfortably outperformed global equity markets over the past decade.
The report documents “the growth and investment of great wealth, as well as how it’s being preserved for future generations and used to have a positive effect on society”, said Head of strategic clients at UBS global wealth management Benjamin Cavalli.
Between 2015 and 2024, total billionaire wealth increased by 121 per cent from USD6.3 trillion to USD14.0 trillion – while the MSCI AC World Index of global equities rose 73 per cent.
The wealth of tech billionaires increased the fastest, followed by that of industrialists.
Worldwide, tech billionaires’ wealth tripled from USD788.9 billion in 2015 to USD2.4 trillion in 2024.
“In earlier years, the new billionaires commercialised e-commerce, social media and digital payments; more recently they engineered the generative artificial intelligence (AI) boom, while also developing cyber-security, fintech, 3D printing and robotics,” UBS said.
The report found that since 2020, the global growth trend had slowed due to declines among China’s billionaires.
From 2015 to 2020, billionaire wealth grew globally at an annual rate of 10 per cent, but growth has plunged to one per cent since 2020.
Chinese billionaire wealth more than doubled from 2015 to 2020, rising from USD887.3 billion to USD2.1 trillion, but has since fallen back to USD1.8 trillion.
However, North American billionaire wealth has risen 58.5 per cent to USD6.1 trillion since 2020, “led by industrials and tech billionaires”.
Meanwhile billionaires are relocating more frequently, with 176 having moved country since 2020, with Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore and the United States (US) being popular destinations.
In 2024, some 268 people became billionaires for the first time, with 60 per cent of them entrepreneurs.
“The year’s new billionaires were mainly self-made,” said UBS.
The report said US billionaires accrued the greatest gains in 2024, reinforcing the country’s place as the world’s main centre for billionaire entrepreneurs.
Their wealth rose 27.6 per cent to USD5.8 trillion, or more than 40 per cent of billionaire wealth worldwide.
Billionaires’ wealth from mainland China and Hong Kong fell 16.8 per cent to USD1.8 trillion, with the number of billionaires dropping from 588 to 501.
Indian billionaires’ wealth increased 42.1 per cent to USD905.6 billion, while their number grew from 153 to 185.
Western Europe’s total billionaire wealth rose 16.0 per cent to USD2.7 trillion – partly due to a 24-per cent increase in Swiss billionaires.
UAE billionaires’ aggregate wealth rose 39.5 per cent to USD138.7 billion.
UBS said billionaires faced an “uncertain world” over the next 10 years, due to high geopolitical tensions, trade barriers and governments with mounting spending requirements.
Billionaires will therefore need to rely on their previous distinctive traits: “smart risk-taking, business focus and determination”.
“Risk-taking billionaires are likely to be at the forefront of creating two technology-related industries of the future already taking shape: generative AI and renewables/electrification,” UBS predicted.
And more flexible wealth planning will be needed as billionaire families move country and spread around the world.
The heirs and philanthropic causes of baby boom billionaires are set to inherit an estimated USD6.3 trillion over the next 15 years, UBS said.
