Who are the richest people in the world? A question that everyone has asked themselves at least once. In this new article we try to analyse the 10 richest people in the world over the last 21 years, from 2000 to 2021. To do so, we will use various databases including Forbes, the most famous, and World’s Billionaire List data. Top 10 Richest People in the World.
Top 10 Richest People in the World – 2021
2021 was a special year. After unemployment rose in 2020 and employment fell in many countries, there was a rebound in 2021. This is true in Europe but also in the United States. The US estimates speak of +7% in 2021. For the European Union, the average for the 27 countries is +5%. But have the richest people in the world been affected by the crisis in 2020? And how has their capital changed over the past year? In the video below you can see how the 10 richest people in the world performed from 2000 to 2021. In 2021 the richest person in the world is Jeff Bazos. The Amazon founder and chairman, who recently flew into space with his company Blue Origin, is the richest man in the world with a value of $177,000,000. A figure that puts him at the top of the list ahead of Elon Musk. Musk, CEO and CTO of numerous companies including Tesla (as well as co-founder of Paypal) has gone from having a net worth of $24.6 billion in 2020 to $151 billion in 2021. That’s very strong growth in a very short time. In third place is Bernard Arnault, owner of the luxury goods group LVMH, and in fourth place is Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corporation. Mukesh Ambani is an Indian entrepreneur, chairman, managing director and the largest shareholder of Reliance Industries Limited.
Who are the top 10 Richest people in the world
If in the chapter above we saw who are the 10 richest people in the world in 2021, who were the richest people 20 years earlier in 2020? In first place, in 2000, was Bill Gates. The Microsoft inventor had a net worth of 60 billion 20 years ago. This put him firmly in first place. In 2020, Larry Ellison was the second richest man in the world thanks to Oracle Corporation. Oracle Corporation is one of the largest software companies in the world. In addition to being co-founder and CTO, he was CEO of this company until 2014 and then became its executive chairman. In 2000, another computer scientist came in third place. Paul Allen, founder of Microsoft together with Bill Gates and recently deceased in 2018, was one of the richest men in the world. Although he gave up his position at Microsoft in 2000, he remained a major shareholder for years.
In the top 10 of the richest people we also find Karl Albrecht, thanks to ALDI, a world-renowned company operating in the retail sector. Or Prince Al-Walid bin Talal, president of the Kingdom Holding Company. And finally we also find Masayoshi Son, founder of the multinational financial holding SoftBank.
How many billionaires are there in the world?
Since the dot-com era began, and the bubbles it created, the number of billionaires has tended to rise. But how many billionaires are there in the world today? And how much have they increased over time? If in 2000 the total number of billionaires in the world was 470, in 2021 the figure will be 2755. That is a very large increase. Between 2000 and 2003 there was not a big difference in the data, it was 470 in 2000 and became 476 in 2003, it is from the following years that the value has continued to grow. Except for the period of the financial crisis in 2008, the figure has basically always been on the rise. There was a slight drop in 2019-2020, but in 2021 the figure rose again. From 2020 to 2021, the figure rose from 2095 billionaires worldwide to 2755, an increase of more than 650 billionaires.
Obviously, as the number of billions increased, so did the group’s net worth. From $898 billion in 2000, it has risen to $13.1 trillion in 2021. In the period from 2020 to 2021 alone, the group’s net worth rose from $8 trillion to $13.1 trillion, an increase of $5.1 trillion in just one year. 5.1 trillion is what the world’s 1226 billion took in 2012 all together. Growth has therefore been very high in such a short time.
Average Net Worth by Family Structure
Comparing the richest people in the world with the average net worth in the US can be interesting. Indeed, you can see the difference between the population, on average, and those who are richest. To do this in this case I use data from the Federal Reserve, which shows household data by net worth according to different parameters. Here you can find the data: https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/scf20.pdf.
In the table you can see both average and median figures. On average, the population under 35 has assets of about 76 thousand dollars. This figure decreases considerably when we look at the median data. In fact in this case the population under 35 has $13,900. As age increases, net worth increases and then decreases for those aged 75 and over. In the 35-44 age group, net worth is $436,220 (households, not individuals). At the median level, however, it is $91,300, which is much lower. In short, the gap between the world’s billionaires and the net worth of American households is decidedly wide.
Sources and useful links
I used several sources for this article. These certainly include the Forbes report and household data.
To watch the video of the Top 10 Richest People in the World: https://youtu.be/wzKb2VTUDhY
To read: Top 15 Countries where People Work the Most Hours – 1870/2017: https://statisticsanddata.org/data/top-15-countries-where-people-work-the-most-hours-1870-2017/
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