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According to a recent report, the world’s billionaires increased in number and became much wealthier in 2017.
Swiss bank UBS and professional service network PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) recently released a comprehensive report on the world’s richest people. The researchers studied 2,158 wealthy individuals worldwide through interviews with billionaires, inheritors, and financial advisers. The report also involved careful analysis of data from the 43 biggest billionaire markets.
The report showed that billionaires enjoyed a 19% or $1.4 trillion wealth increase in 2017, as opposed to the average growth of 9% in the past five years. The collective wealth of the world’s billionaires has now ballooned to $8.9 trillion.
Another remarkable finding is that 332 new billionaires established their status in 2017. Of these new billionaires, 199 acquired their fortune through their own businesses while 61 inherited their wealth. The report also found that the number of Chinese billionaires had a 2,200% growth rate in a span of 12 years. On average, China created two new billionaires weekly in 2017.
The TV network CNBC also probed further into the report. The CNBC noted that the number of female billionaires increased by 9% in 2017. In an interview, UBS global head Josef Stadler confirmed that women now account for 11% of the world’s richest people.
Stadler also explained that female billionaires from western countries have acquired their wealth differently from women in other countries. Most female billionaires from the United States and Europe inherited their wealth. On the other hand, many Chinese female billionaires were self-made entrepreneurs.