W.B.D.

The Global Map of Wealth

Billionaires by Region

Extreme wealth is not evenly spread, and it is not built the same way everywhere. Our index tracks 556 billionaires worth $13.74T combined, across 7 regions. Follow a region to see its countries, its wealthiest people, and the sectors their fortunes come from.

North America

226 billionaires · $7.51T

North America holds the largest single concentration of extreme wealth, dominated by technology, finance and retail — and more self-made than any other region.

Europe

139 billionaires · $2.92T

European wealth skews toward luxury houses, family-held industrial groups and private banking — fortunes that are frequently inherited and measured in generations.

Asia

136 billionaires · $2.6T

Asia produces more billionaires than any other region, spanning Chinese manufacturing and technology, Indian conglomerates, Japanese retail and Southeast Asian commodities.

South America

14 billionaires · $224.5B

South American fortunes are built on mining, agriculture, banking and brewing — resource and consumer businesses at continental scale.

the Middle East

12 billionaires · $204.6B

Middle Eastern fortunes centre on energy, construction, sovereign-adjacent investment and, increasingly, technology and sport.

Africa

20 billionaires · $145.2B

Africa’s largest fortunes are concentrated in cement, telecoms, energy and consumer goods — industries built for fast-growing domestic markets rather than exported to them.

Oceania

9 billionaires · $136.5B

Australian and New Zealand wealth is anchored in mining, property and retail, shaped by decades of resource exports to Asia.