2021 witnessed the third successive year of billionaire population expansion but the weakest growth since 2018. The global billionaire population rose by 3.3% to 3,311 individuals, with total wealth surging by 17.8% to a record $11.8trn. The Covid-19 pandemic remained the dominant influence, and growth was buoyed by a largely rebounding global economy and a strong upturn in corporate earnings and IPO activity.
The number of billionaires in North America exceeded the 1,000 threshold for the first time. With 1,035 billionaires, North America consolidated its status as the world’s leading billionaire region, equivalent to a 31% global share. Europe experienced the strongest growth of all regions in 2021, up 6.8% to 954 billionaires, slightly increasing its lead over third-ranked Asia in terms of billionaire population size (having lost ground both to North America and Asia in recent years).
The average US CEO or non-profit trustee has a direct connection to almost four billionaires and second- degree connections to more than 250. Business leaders’ and board members’ own professional networks give them a surprisingly high number of connections to billionaires, despite their being few in number. Utilizing such connections to facilitate warm introductions is an essential part of the highly individualized approach to engagement needed for this exclusive group of individuals.
All top 15 billionaire countries recorded an increase in billionaire wealth in 2021, but changes in population were far more diverse. The US bolstered its status as the dominant billionaire country, while second- placed China saw a modest fall. Expanding by almost 20%, India jumped four places, replacing Russia as the fourth-ranked billionaire country. Russia’s billionaire numbers declined by 11%, and this was before the invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of severe international sanctions. The diverse performance illustrates the uneven impact of the pandemic (and the related recovery) on individual billionaires’ wealth holdings, given their varied exposure to industry sectors, asset markets and countries’ economies.
Kuwait City, San Francisco and Hong Kong have the highest density of billionaires. Based on metropolitan area, the capital of Kuwait has one billionaire for approximately every 33,000 residents. Singapore, New York, London and Moscow are other prominent billionaire cities in the top 10 density rankings, ranging from one billionaire per 105,000 inhabitants (Singapore) to one per 171,000 (Moscow).
Of the top five primary industries, technology has by far the youngest, most self-made and male billionaires. In addition, a significantly larger share of tech-focused billionaires are in the highest wealth tiers (those above $10bn and $50bn). The banking and finance sector is the dominant primary industry of the global billionaire population, followed by industrial conglomerates, real estate, tech and manufacturing, the last three accounting for around 7% each.
