Where the wealth is: Asia top, Australia No.16 on billionaires league table

No matter who’s counting, Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim Helu keeps coming up trumps among the world’s richest of the rich. Photo: Reuters

Ben Woodhead

First Asia overtook North America as the millionaire capital of the world, now it boasts more billionaires than any other place on earth.

According to Hurun Report’s Hurun Global Rich List 2013, Asia is home to 608 billionaires, or more than 40 per cent of the world’s 1453 mega rich individuals. Of that 608, more than half live in China, which still trails the United States as the country with the most billionaires.

The top five countries for billionaires according to the list are: the United States (408 billionaires), China (317), Russia (88), Germany (61) and the UK (56). Australia comes in at No. 16 with 16 billionaires, by Hurun Report’s calculations.

But while the US is top of the pops among countries and Asia wins among continents, it’s Moscow that takes out the top spot as the city that’s home to the most billionaires.

Moscow (76 billionaires) leads New York (70), Hong Kong (54), Beijing (41) and London (40). Rounding out the top 10 cities are Istanbul (26), Mumbai (24), Shanghai (24), Paris (23) and Shenzen (22).

Good times abound

Hurun Report also finds that the past year was good for the richest of the rich, with the cadre’s combined personal wealth climbing to a whopping $US5.5 trillion, equivalent to China’s gross domestic product.

As for the richest of the rich elite – a gang Hurun Report dubs the Ten-Zero Club because members have personal wealth of more than $US10 billion – 25 more individuals joined the group taking its total headcount to 108.

Among the top 10, wealth rose 22 per cent for the 2013 survey, equivalent to these fattest of fat fat cats pocketing a combined $US250 million more a day.

The Report also suspects there may be many more billionaires out there than it’s counted.

“For every billionaire that Hurun Report has found, I estimate we have missed at least two, meaning that today there are probably 4000 [US] dollar billionaires in the world,” Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf says.

How to spot a billionaire

As for what the typical billionaire looks like, the Report says:

• The average age of a billionaire is 63
• The average age of the top 10 billionaires is 74
• Being an American male is a common trait
• Being a woman is an uncommon trait (only 1 in 10 billionaires)
• 74 per cent of billionaires are self-made
• Among billionaires who inherit wealth, most are second generation riche
• Most commonly billionaires made the fortunes in real estate, TMT (technology, media and telecommunications), investments and retail
• Facebook founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz are the list’s youngest self-made billionaires at 28 and 29 years old respectively
• Dragons and Horses are the most common Chinese star signs in the billionaire club, with Rats and Chickens the least common

The top 10

As for the top 10, Hurun Report comes up with similar names but a slightly different order to Forbes’ billionaires list. According the Report those in the 10 are:

• Carlos Slim Helu and family ($US66 billion)
• Warren Buffett ($US58 billion)
• Amancio Ortega ($US55 billion)
• Bill Gates ($US54 billion)
• Bernard Arnault ($US51 billion)
• Larry Ellison ($US43 billion)
• Li Ka-shing ($US32 billion)
• Charles Koch ($US31 billion)
• David Koch ($US31 billion)
• Liliane Bettencourt ($US30 billion)

Where they live

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