The World's Billionaires
The World's Billionaires is an annual ranking of people who are billionaires, i.e., they are considered to have a net worth of US$1 billion or more, by the American business magazine Forbes. The list was first published in March 1987. The total net worth of each individual on the list is estimated and is cited in United States dollars, based on their documented assets and accounting for debt and other factors. Royalty and dictators whose wealth comes from their positions are excluded from these lists. This ranking is an index of the wealthiest documented individuals, excluding any ranking of those with wealth that is not able to be completely ascertained.
| List of the world's billionaires, ranked in order of net worth | |
The net worth of the world's billionaires increased from less than US$1 trillion in 2000 to over $7 trillion in 2015. | |
| Publication details | |
|---|---|
| Publisher |
|
| Publication | Forbes |
| First published | March 1987 |
| Latest publication | April 4, 2023 |
| Current list details (2023) | |
| Wealthiest | Bernard Arnault |
| Net worth (1st) | US$211 billion |
| Number of billionaires | 2,640 (from 2668) |
| Total list net worth value | US$12.2 trillion (from US$12.7 trillion) |
| Number of women | 337 |
| Number of men | 2310 |
| New members to the list | 150 |
| Forbes: The World's Billionaires website | |
In 2018, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was ranked at the top for the first time and became the first centibillionaire included in the ranking, surpassing Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who had topped the list 18 of the previous 24 years. In 2022, after topping the list for four years, Bezos was surpassed by Elon Musk. In 2023, Musk was in turn surpassed by French businessman Bernard Arnault, after topping the list for just a year. Arnault became the first French person to top the list.