Billionaires getting richer than ever in India, shows UBS survey

Asia shows the largest increase in the wealth of billionaires this year, with the fortunes of the region's mega-rich growing by 18.7 per cent; but the US is still the world's top billionaire country, a UBS wealth survey said.

The global billionaire population reached a record high of 2,325 this year, with the addition of 155 new entrants to the list - a 7 per cent increase from last year, the survey showed.

The combined wealth of the world's billionaires grew 12 per cent to $7.3 trillion, higher than the combined market capitalisation of all the companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Europe is the region with the most billionaires at 775, with billionaire wealth at $2.37 trillion, but Asia scores the biggest in billionaire wealth increase this year. The fortune of the continent's super rich picked up 18.7 per cent and the number of billionaires increased 10 per cent from last year, the survey said.

The US maintained its position as the world's top billionaire country with 571 billionaires this year, followed by China at 190, the UK at 130 and Germany at 123, according to the survey.

In Asia, Taiwan has 29 residents with assets of $1 billion or more, ranking 20th in the world and sixth in the continent in terms of number of billionaires.

Taipei hosts 21 billionaires with a net worth of $43 billion, which puts the city in 18th place globally and eighth regionally in terms of the number of billionaires, the survey indicated.

The seven Asian cities ahead of Taipei, in descending order, are Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, Mumbai, Tokyo, Shenzhen and Shanghai.