Daily Times

Forbes, a popular American magazine, has released its 36th annual list of the world’s wealthiest people. 87 persons were left off the list this year, compared to last year, as conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, and lethargic markets wreaked havoc on the world’s billionaires.

According to Forbes, the list includes 2,668 billionaires, with 236 newcomers, and 1,000 billionaires are now wealthier than they were a year ago.

America still leads the world, with 735 billionaires worth a collective $4.7 trillion (almost Rs867 trillion). This includes Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, who topped the World’s Billionaires list for the first time, while China (including Macau and Hong Kong) remained number two, with 607 billionaires worth a collective $2.3 trillion (almost Rs424 trillion).

Surprisingly, Russia and China witnessed a major drop in the number of billionaires. In Russia, there are 34 fewer billionaires than last year following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, while in China, a government crackdown on tech companies has led to 87 fewer billionaires on the list.

According to the Forbes magazine, Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries is the 10th richest person in the world, followed by Infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani and his family, who claimed the 11th spot on Forbes’ annual world’s billionaires list.

“We used stock prices and exchange rates from March 11, 2022 to calculate net worths,” said the magazine.