2022 Billionaire Count Drops by 3.5% Amid Global Economic Challenges – Key Insights and City Rankings
In 2022, the global billionaire population declined by 3.5%, impacted heavily by inflation, geopolitical tensions, and market volatility. Discover which sectors and cities were most affected.
Global billionaire numbers shrank by 3.5% in 2022, with technology, healthcare, and real estate sectors facing the steepest wealth reductions.
Essential Highlights
- According to Altrata's 2022 report, the billionaire population worldwide decreased to 3,194 individuals, marking the first decline since 2018.
- Technology sector fortunes were especially vulnerable, contributing significantly to the overall drop.
- New York remains the city with the highest billionaire count, while Singapore experienced the largest increase in new billionaires last year.
The year 2022 saw a contraction in the billionaire community as inflation pressures, international conflicts, and rising interest rates disrupted global markets. The total number of billionaires fell by 117, a 3.5% reduction, bringing the total to 3,194.
This decline also impacted total billionaire wealth, which decreased by 5.5% to $11.1 trillion, reflecting the challenging economic environment.
While some ultra-wealthy individuals leveraged the turmoil to enhance their assets, most prioritized safeguarding their wealth amid market instability, with tech magnates encountering notable difficulties.
The United States leads with 955 billionaires holding combined assets of $4.2 trillion, followed by China with 357 billionaires—a nearly 10% drop from 2021—and Germany with 173 billionaires.
Wealth tied to technology, healthcare, and real estate sectors shrank by approximately 5%, whereas industries like aerospace, defense, construction, and food and beverage saw comparatively smaller losses.
Regionally, Asia experienced the steepest billionaire decline at 7.1%, while North America and Europe saw decreases of 2.3% and 2.2%, respectively. The Pacific region, buoyed by Australia’s wealth growth, was the sole area to see a 2.5% increase in billionaire numbers.
Urban centers remain billionaire hotspots, with 30% residing in the top 16 global cities. New York, powered by Wall Street’s financial hub, hosts the most billionaires (136 in 2022), though this was slightly fewer than the previous year. It is followed by Hong Kong, San Francisco, Moscow, London, and Beijing.
Among these cities, Singapore stood out by adding four new billionaires, and Moscow added one, while other major cities experienced stable or declining billionaire populations.
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