BEIJING – Beijing has overtaken New York as the city with the highest number of billionaires for the first time, a new report by China-based firm Hurun says.
A total of 100 billionaires are now living in the Chinese capital, compared with 95 in New York, the report says.
Shanghai, China’s centre of commerce, comes in fifth place.
Hurun, which tracks wealth in China, has released an annual Global Rich List for the past five years measuring billionaires’ wealth in US dollars.
The private research firm, which also publishes luxury magazines, uses a mixture of information from publicly traded companies plus interviews to compile its data.
Other companies such as Forbes and Bloomberg use different methodology and arrive at different conclusions.
China
China has 568 billionaires, 90 more than last year. The combined net worth of the Chinese billionaires is US$1.4 trillion, similar to the GDP of Australia.
Led by Beijing, 5 Chinese cities make the top 10 cities for super wealth creators. Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou are home to 100, 64, 50, 46 and 32 billionaires respectively. Average age of the billionaires is 56.
Wang Jianlin, 61, of Wanda was the richest Chinese with US$26b, just ahead of Li Ka-shing, 87.
United States
The United States has been ranked at number 2 with 535 billionaires; 2 less than last year.
The combined wealth of the US billionaires was US$2.4 trillion, just a little less than the GDP of France.
New York has the highest concentration of billionaires, with 93, followed by San Francisco and LA on 28 and 21 respectively.
Average age of US billionaires dropped to 60, primarily because of the death of 13 billionaires with an average age of 84.
India
Ranked third in the list, India has 111 billionaires, 14 more than last year.
Combined wealth of the Indian billionaires shot up by 16% to US$308 billion. Average age is 64.
Mumbai is headquarters to most of the Indian billionaires. Mukesh Ambani (US$26bn, rank 21) is the richest Indian.
Germany
Germany has 83 billionaires, 11 more than 2015. With a net worth of US$36bn, Dieter Schwarz, 76, of Schwarz Group retains the top spot of the German billionaires.
Bielefeld and Hamburg are the preferred cities with 8 billionaires each living there. Average age is 65.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has 82 billionaires, 2 more than last year.
London is the overwhelming city of choice for 50 billionaires.
UK billionaires have a combined wealth of US$267billion. Overall wealth of UK billionaires has been increased by 10% since last year.
Gerald Grosvenor & family and Indian origin SP Hinduja & family are the richest people living in the UK.
Russia
Russia has 80 billionaires; 13 less than 2015. All are self-made.
The most popular sectors are Energy and Real estate with 17 and 12 billionaires respectively. Moscow is home to 66 billionaires.
Combined wealth of the Russian billionaires comes to US$234b, down by US$130b. Overall wealth of Russian billionaires declined by 36%.
Switzerland
Switzerland comes 7th with 66 billionaires, 6 more than 2015. With 16 billionaires, Geneva is the No 1 city for billionaires in Switzerland.
Preferred sectors are Pharma (with 15 billionaires) and manufacturing (with 13 billionaires).
Combined wealth of the Swiss billionaires cumulates to US$226.3bn or 20%.
France
France has 51 billionaires, 5 more than 2015. Combined wealth of the French billionaires is US$300b, 13% more than previous year.
The preferred sector is luxury goods and F&B with 8 billionaires each. Home to 30 billionaires, Paris is the preferred city.
Brazil
Brazil is at 9th position with 49 billionaires, 7 less than 2015. Combined wealth of the Brazilian billionaires totals US$146b.
Financial services is the preferred industry with 10 billionaires followed by TMT and F&B with 5 each.
Japan
Japan stands at 10th with 42 billionaires, 3 less than 2015. Combined wealth of the Japanese billionaires cumulates to US$111b.
The preferred sector is Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) with 14 billionaires followed by retail with 9. Tokyo is the preferred city.
