“For 10 years, the report has been chronicling the growth and investment of great wealth, as well as how it’s being preserved for future generations and used to have a positive effect on society,” said Benjamin Cavalli, Head of Strategic Clients at Global Wealth Management. “This anniversary edition looks back over the report’s discoveries of the past 10 years to identify the key developments in billionaire wealth.”

Global wealth creation flatlines

Between 2015 and 2024, total billionaire wealth increased by 121% globally from USD 6.3 trillion to USD 14.0 trillion. By comparison, the MSCI AC World Index of global equities rose 73%. During this time, the number of billionaires increased from 1,757 to 2,682. The peak was reached in 2021 with 2,686 billionaires. Since then, it has remained flat.

From 2015 to 2020, billionaire wealth grew globally at an annual rate of 10%. Since 2020, growth has stalled at 1%. But that number masks continued expansion in the US, EMEA and parts of Asia, most notably India.

Over this time, the impact of Chinese billionaires’ dynamism and consolidation has been clear. Chinese billionaire wealth more than doubled from 2015 to 2020, rising from USD 887.3 billion to USD 2.1 trillion. Since then, it has fallen to USD 1.8 trillion. Even so, the overall number of billionaires remains stable.

By contrast, North American billionaire wealth has continued to accumulate. From 2015 to 2020, North American billionaires’ wealth increased from USD 2.5 trillion to USD 3.8 trillion. And from 2020 to 2024, it rose 58.5% to USD 6.1 trillion, led by industrials and tech billionaires.

In Western Europe, wealth accumulation has slowed slightly since 2020 against a backdrop of higher interest rates. It rose from USD 1.5 trillion to USD 2.1 trillion from 2015 to 2020, before increasing to USD 2.7 trillion by 2024, led by tech billionaires in fields ranging from software to messaging and music streaming.

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