For many years now, economists have been predicting that Asia would overtake the West in terms of wealth markets, and a new report has officially confirmed that East is home to more billionaires in 2013 than North America.
The Hurun Report, which was compiled by British accountant and former Forbes Rich List researcher Rupert Hoogewerf, found that compared with North America’s 440 and Europe’s 324 dollar billionaires, Asia had 608.
The wealth of all the billionaires in the world combined adds up to an estimated $5.5 trillion, which totals roughly the same as the size of the Japanese economy. In the past year, net assets of the 10 wealthiest people in the world allegedly rose at the rate of $250 million a day.
It is believed to be the first time Asia has been named as home of the largest proportion of super-rich on any global list., including the prestigious Forbes list.
Listed as the richest man in Asia was the appropirately named Hong Kong investor Li Ka-shing, who holds a personal fortune of $32 billion, making him the seventh wealthiest person in the world.
Whilst Mexico can lay claim to holding the world’s richest citizen, telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim, who was named the “planet’s richest man” with a personal fortune of 66 billion dollars, at the rate Chinese super-wealthy are zooming up international rich lists, it can only be a matter of time before he finds himself usurped. Moscow holds the accolade of city with most billionaire inhabitants.
Listed as the richest man in Asia was the appropriately named Hong Kong investor Li Ka-shing, who holds a personal fortune of $32 billion, making him the seventh wealthiest person in the world.
Reflecting the rapid rise in the fortunes of China’s entrepreneurial sector, all the individuals on the Sino-billionaire list were ‘self-made’ individuals, with an average age of 58. As a result of the real estate boom that has swept China in the past decade, many of these fortunes were made in the property sector.
The UK , which has a surprising 56 billionaires, just pipped India, home to 53 billionaires, to fith place.
