India displaces Russia as third in number of billionaires
04 Feb 2015
India has gone up 27 places to replace Russia at No 3 in the Hurun Global Rich List for 2015, a ranking of the dollar billionaires across the world.
The US and China account for half of the world's billionaires. Meanwhile it is the first time that India has broken into the top three, the Hurun report said.
India has 97 billionaires, 27 more than last year. Their combined wealth adds up to $266 billion.
Mukesh Ambani (worth $20 billion and ranked 41 on the Hurun billionaire list) retains his rank as the richest Indian.
Russia has 93 billionaires and their combined wealth is $365 billion.
Wealth calculations are a snapshot as of 17 January 2015.
For the fourth year, the Hurun Global Rich List ranked 2,089 billionaires, up 222 from last year, from 68 countries in a record-breaking year for the world's billionaires.
Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report, said that technology has been leading the way again for new billionaires. Real estate, manufacturing, investments and retail follow.
Facebook founder, the 30-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, is now among the top 10.
Bill Gates, Carlos Slim and Warren Buffett, the first three on the Global Rich list, saw their wealth surge $52 billion (or $100,000 a minute!) over the past year to a combined record total of $244 billion.
As many as 649 in the list saw their wealth increased over the past year.
The list has 341 are new faces while 230 remain unchanged, 869 see their wealth decrease, and 95 have been dropped from last year's list.
The collapse of the rouble and a stagnating economy hurt the wealth of 60 per cent of Russian billionaires. They were led by Vladimir Yevtushenkov and Vagit Alekperov of Lukoil, whose wealth fell by 77 per cent and 73 per cent respectively.
New York is the billionaire capital of the world. Five Greater China cities made it to the top 10 - Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen, Taipei and Shanghai.
China leads in self-made women. Of 69 self-made women in world, 35 are from China. Snapchat founders Evan Spiegel, 23, and Bobby Murphy, 25, are the youngest on the list.
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