Global billionaire wealth increased by $5 trillion amid pandemic, Forbes list finds

The total wealth of the world’s richest people has increased by more than $5 trillion over the past year, despite the global pandemic and recession, according to data compiled by Forbes for its annual billionaire list.

Forbes’ 35th Annual Billionaires List, released Tuesday, revealed that there will be a record-breaking 2,755 billionaires in the world in 2021. Of those, on this year’s list are his 493 new billionaires who didn’t make it in 2020.

As of March 2021, the total wealth of billionaires in the world is around $13.1 trillion, up from a total of $8 trillion in March 2020.

“In many ways, we have more newcomers and billionaires around the world this year than ever before,” Kelly A. Dolan, deputy editor of wealth at Forbes, said in a statement Tuesday. It was a record-breaking year.

“It’s also the first time that the combined net worth of billions of dollars in the world has crossed the double-digit trillions,” Doran added. “The pace at which vast fortunes are being created is astounding.”

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who has a net worth of $177 billion, tops this year’s list for the fourth year in a row. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has jumped from his 31st place on last year’s list to his No. 2 spot with $151 billion. The remaining top five billionaires are No. 3 Bernard Arnault ($150 billion net worth), No. 4 Bill Gates ($124 billion) and No. 5 Mark Zuckerberg ($97 billion).

It’s the first time since 1993 that No. 6 Warren Buffett isn’t included in Forbes’ Top 5 Billionaires list. His net worth is $96 billion.

The wealth of the ultra-elite is inextricably linked to the stock market, which suffered early in the pandemic but has since recovered to new heights despite continuing pain elsewhere in the economy. In particular, Forbes’ methodology used stock prices and exchange rates as of March 5, 2021 to calculate the net worth of this year’s list. For last year’s listing, the property was measured on March 18, 2020. This is very close to when the stock market bottomed out.

Many economists believe the pandemic will widen wealth inequality in America, leaving low-wage service workers in industries that require face-to-face contact out of work and allowing white-collar workers to continue working remotely. This is exacerbating income inequality.

The US unemployment rate was 6% last month. Before COVID-19 shocked the labor market, the U.S. unemployment rate was at a historic low of 3.5% in February 2020.

Forbes identified about 1,975 billionaires as “self-made” this year. In contrast, 281 billionaires inherited wealth and 499 millionaires inherited a significant amount of wealth and grew it further.

According to Forbes analysis, the United States has more billionaires than any other country (724 total), but China is not far behind (698 billionaires). Although the majority are still men, he has 328 female billionaires this year, compared to her 241 in 2020.

Another notable trend in this year’s report is that some of the common ways nearly 500 new billionaires have gained wealth in 2021 are cryptocurrencies, SPACs, traditional IPOs, and COVID-related health care, says Forbes.

Finally, among the celebrities who appeared on the 2020 Billionaires list but weren’t on the 2021 list is reality TV star and makeup entrepreneur Kylie Jenner. However, her sister Kim Kardashian made it onto the list of billionaires for the first time this year.