There are 2,150 billionaires in the world — worth a combined $10 trillion. Their wealth is greater than that of 60% of the world’s population. It's amazing how far those nine zeroes can stretch. There isn't a thing that you can't buy, right?
Here are some facts about the Billionaires in the United States:
Money.Giorgio Trovato/Unsplash
- The number of U.S. billionaires grew more than nine fold between 1990 and March 2020 -- leaping from 66 to 614.
- The total wealth of U.S. billionaires grew from $240 billion in 1990 to $2.95 trillion in March 2020.
- In 2008 there were 407 billionaires in the U.S. and the the world's wealthiest individual was Warren Buffet. He is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is considered one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net worth of over $100.6 billion as of April 2021, making him the world's seventh-wealthiest person.
- In 2009 there were 359 billionaires in the U.S. and the world's wealthiest individual was Bill Gates with net worth of $40 billion. He was also the world's wealthiest individual in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He is an American business magnate, software developer, investor, author and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. As of June 12, 2021, his net worth is $144.7 billion.
- Jeff Bezos is currently the world's wealthiest individual. He became the wealthiest individual in 2017 for the first time and he is on the top ever since. He is an American business magnate, media proprietor, and investor. Bezos is the founder and CEO of the multi-national technology company Amazon. With a net worth of more than $200 billion as of April 2021, he is the richest person in the world according to both Forbes and Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.
Green Plant.Micheile Henderson/Unsplash
- In March 2020, there were more than seven male billionaires for every female billionaire. The gender disparity among billionaires shows that the economic inequality found between men and women up and down the economic ladder in the U.S persists even at the very top.
- From 2010 to March 2020, more U.S. billionaires derived their wealth from finance and investments than any other industry. The financial sector boasted 104 billionaires in 2010 -- ten years later the number had grown to 160.
- The technology industry produced the greatest growth in billionaires over the decade, more than doubling from 42 to 103.
- New York and California are the states with the most billionaires. You can check the billionaires by state here.