10 Countries With The Most Billionaires

No longer dominated by Americans and Europeans, the members of the world's billionaire club increasingly hail from around the globe, first and third world countries alike. And while some of the mega-rich might may spend more time on yachts than in their home countries, even billionaires have a place they call home. It's just becoming increasingly difficult to predict where that home is.

According to this year's annual Wealth Report, published by Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank -- Scorpio Partnership, a wealth management consultancy firm, also contributed -- new billionaires are increasingly likely to come from emerging economies like India and Russia, the latter of which increased its billionaire count by 30 percent last year, according to Forbes. The world's total number of millionaires has skyrocketed, too, increasing by 22 percent from one year prior, when the global economy witnessed a drastic drop in millionaires.

No country's elite, however, have benefited more from last year's rebounding economy than China's, with the country's tremendous economic growth raising the billionaire count by 140 percent. At this rate, many economists expect China -- ranked 35th in Forbes' billionaires list as recently as 2005 -- to soon claim the title of most billionaires in the world.

"That growth [in China] may be strengthened," Scorpio Partnership director Stephen Wall wrote in the rport, "by the range of wealth sources driving economic growth."

Of all their thriving industries, the Internet technology sector has perhaps treated China's elites the best. And no one better represents that industry than China's richest man and Baidu search engine founder Robin Li. Still, Chinese billionaires will continue to face stiff competition from the U.S. in the future, as Facebook alone represents six of America's billionaires, including the youngest billionaire in the world: 26-year-old co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.

See below for the list of countries with the most billionaires according to the 2011 Wealth Report:

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10. Canada

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Number of billionaires: 22 Total Population: 33,739,900 Notable Billionaires Include: David Thompson (Chairman of Thompson Reuters), Jeffrey Skoll (ex-eBay President) and Guy Laliberté (CEO of Cirque du Soleil).

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Number of billionaires: 22
Total Population: 33,739,900
Notable Billionaires Include: David Thompson (Chairman of Thompson Reuters), Jeffrey Skoll (ex-eBay President) and Guy Laliberté (CEO of Cirque du Soleil).

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Comments

[ceokarens]

04:40 PM on 05/14/2011

What would happen if each of our 396 billionaires contributed 1 billion to our deficit and cut Mr. Obamas personal spending on our tax dollars. This would give 396 Billionaires a voice in business and education that would support business and successful citzenship. Lets start evaluating the strengths of our country and use those strengths to design our new future of optimism and hope instead of the doom, gloom, and fear that is being sold as a way to gain power and control.
Hope to spark some thoughts and discussion.

[rrrr57]

10:25 AM on 05/14/2011

This is a very deceiving article as are most on the huffpost. Many coutries including some on this list have more billionaires per capita than the US. Also to the posts saying they donate there money to Republicans. This is not factually true. There are many more millionaire and billionaires in the Democratic party. The cogression dems are worth more than the Reps on average. Wall street donations in the last two elections have heavily favored the Dems. Lets stop the class warfare and let the job creaters create jobs.

[ciarequital]

08:13 PM on 05/11/2011

How many of these billionaires have been created by being Private Contractors during two wars. How many have become billionaires by sucking on the taxpayers teet? By PROFITEERING.

[rrrr57]

10:30 AM on 05/14/2011

0. How many have been created sucking on teets? Don't know but the government itself continues to be the biggest "Trillionaire" and all their money comes from the taxpayer. Lets get the congress to make cuts that are needed.

[ciarequital]

08:01 PM on 05/11/2011

Gee, let's see... "The haves and the have mores." How did all this come about?

[rrrr57]

10:36 AM on 05/14/2011

There are over 150 million people considered middle class. Less than 400 billionaire. That is one in every 375,000 people. What's the problem?!!!!!!!

[ciarequital]

12:39 PM on 05/14/2011

Delusional much. Our middle class is now the working class. Maybe someday you'll make enough money trolling that you can join that "billionaire class".

[Luv2Purple]

07:35 PM on 05/18/2011

Those 400 people - many of whom have inherited their wealth, not worked for it or earned it - and I'll even put "theDonald" in this category since he was born with a PlatinumSpoonUpHisButt due to his father's $400 Million nestegg in the 1940's in NY real estate. Anyway - those 400 have more wealth then over half the country!!! So 400>155,000,000 and you want to know what's the problem???

[vallesula]

01:13 PM on 05/11/2011

While we pride ourselves as being the cradle of Democracy, the world watches us as the birth-place of racism.
Yes, Brown V Board of Education was ruled upon almost some 6o yrs ago, and if we are still as screwed up as howdy doody, it's thanks in part to our rather poor educational system. We're most adept at coining slogans - no child left behind - but when time to walk the walk, we punt.
Had they deliver to them slogans, by now our people would know that the good Lord did a job well done when he put this world together. In the process, he created EXACTLY ONE OF A KIND of all the species. Not two, just one !!!!..., and if today we're under the notion there are multiple races, it's because man has assigned values of importance to skin-color which he's INCORRECTLY been calling races as if though there was more than one man decorating planet Earth.
Yes, maybe if our schools were so much better in math and science, by now our people would know that the studys of GENOME tell us, we all walk around with at least " ONE DROP " from the black man that first appeared in Africa.

[mtcolleen]

10:33 AM on 05/07/2011

(cont)
Thanks to the people of the midwest (God bless their spirit), there has been a rebirth of the ideas that created the strong middle class in this country and that we need to be willing to fight for it.

Back in the early 70's. the right began to see success in splitting those who labored from those in the middle class in the professions such as teaching. It was a good tactic from the point of view of management because their opposition was split which made it easier for them to claim more and more of profits for themselves at the expense of those who had actually created those profits.

Until we begin to recognize the importance of the Franklin Roosevelts in the course of success in the country, we will not regain the lost ground. We also need a Congress that will work for the majority and not the few. We also need a Supreme Court that is not in the pocket of the wealthiest.

People tend to ignore SCOTUS which is a mistake. The decisions taken there have a profound effect on the lives of people. As a country, WE NEED TO WAKE UP and make sure that those who are deciding the course of this country are people that represent our interests!!!!

[mtcolleen]

10:17 AM on 05/07/2011

I saw the statistics yesterday about the gap between the richest and poorest. We are right there with the "istan" countries from the old Soviet Union. Until enough people realize that our country is actively sinking into the toilet and doing it while the top few continue to get richer while the remainder are left to drown, we will continue on that path.

When discussing the role of unions, I have heard so many people say- Unions used to be necessary but we really don't need them anymore- or words to that effect. I doubt that most of those people understand how they have allowed themselves to be brainwashed about this by those in whose interest it is to promote that view.

Those who provide the capital in a particular venture are important in the process of creating wealth. What most people no longer seem to understand is that those who provide the labor are every bit as important and that negotiating to determine how much that is, is perfectly legitimate and the only way that the capitalist can be prevented from simply walking away with all the wealth created by their employees.

FDR recognized the importance of labor in the country and put us on the road to becoming the most prosperous country in the world and the strongest middle class. Beginning with Reagan who, despite having been in a union himself) began to whittle away at workers rights.

[Aneesia]

01:33 PM on 04/20/2011

I wonder how much money many of them donate to Congress to control the votes. Or how many Congressmen give favors !

[dreday1]

02:03 PM on 04/19/2011

Micheal Moore was right, all of our money really is being chocked up at the top.

[Mr Crabs]

11:23 AM on 04/16/2011

With all those billionares in the US, I just can't wait til it trickles down to me!

[hazyafternoonsunshine]

11:53 PM on 04/30/2011

I am , sorry didn't you get the memo? They installed gutters and pumps to capture the trickle and send it back up. That trickle down thing is so last millennium.

[jayes]

02:40 AM on 04/15/2011

How to make meaningful: a) Adjust for population. b) Mention the time those billionaires actually spend in their home countries. (Billionaires can pretty much be anywhere they want with mortal indefiniteness.)

[TruAmerican141]

12:10 AM on 04/15/2011

Everyone lost the budget battle. The negotiated $38 billion budget cut has been analyzed by the CBO to total only $354 million. That is the same as, let's say take a $4,000 monthly household budget, and reducing it by $.08. Boy, what a hard fought negotion that was! Congress needs a crash course on "How to negotiate with a Liar."

[americanalien]

11:07 PM on 04/14/2011

How many of the billionaires in America are giving money to the Republicans to fulfill their agenda against the will of the American public? That's a good question to ask.

[tb philly]

01:23 PM on 04/17/2011

George Soros?

[ciarequital]

08:03 PM on 05/11/2011

Wrong. George Soros votes against his "best interest." Unlike the Koch brothers.

[HeadAches]

01:05 PM on 04/14/2011

Something much more interesting is looking at the number of billionaires per capita.
USA: 1 per 775,270 citizens
Chine: 1 per 18,492,500
Russia: 1 per 2,445,690
Germany: 1 per 1,904,185

Countries not on the list:
Norway: 1 per 1,125,000
Sweden: 1 per 935,446

This gives a much better view of how big of a chance you have in a country to become a billionaire. The number per country is really irrelevant, what is interesting to see is how many people is needed to support 1 billionaire and that is somewhere around 1 per 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 give and take.

[Jokergirl]

07:41 PM on 04/14/2011

Hey, according to this you have a better chance of being a billionaire in the US rather than the others on the list, no wonder everyone comes to the US. Thanks for sharing.

[HeadAches]

11:31 PM on 04/14/2011

What you seems to ignore, is that the chance of becoming a billionaire in what many Americans consider socialist countries, are almost equal to the US.

Of course, those countries are NOT socialist countries but capitalist countries based upon a mixed-model economy.

Not to mention, the average and poor citizens are doing way better in those countries then in the US.

Higher standard of living, less poverty, better education system, better social systems, universal health care and the same chances to become a billionaire. Kind of makes the American right's claims fall like burning straw men, doesn't it?

[Frog in a pot]

03:32 AM on 04/20/2011

that would be Sweden

[RedBall24]

12:22 PM on 04/18/2011

Hong Kong 1 per 241,507
Switzerland 1 per 286,340

[oski the bear]

12:51 PM on 04/14/2011

The only thing surprising is that none of the Middle East countries made the list. I'd have thought that oil money would have produced more than 22 billionaires in, say, UAE or Saudi Arabia, for instance.