Most people do not count one of the world’s 2,325 billionaires among their friends or acquaintances. Here are some facts that shed some light on this exclusive club, based on a report by Wealth-X and Swiss bank UBS.
Education level: Lack of a university degree is no obstacle to becoming super rich. More than a third of the world’s billionaires have no bachelor’s degree.
Where they study: Those aspiring to amass a fortune would be well-advised to attend an Ivy League university. The University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and Yale are the institutions that have turned out the most billionaires among their alumni.
Where to find them: The country with the highest density of billionaires is Liechtenstein. The tiny European principality boasts five of them, from a population of 37,000. New York is home to 103 super rich - more than any other city in the world.
Emerging billionaire hubs: Most of the cities that are home to 20 or more billionaires are neither in Western Europe nor in North America, but in emerging countries in other regions. They include Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Istanbul, Riyadh, Mumbai and Shenzhen.
Female wealth: Becoming a self-made billionaire is still more difficult for women than for men. Women own only 12 per cent of global billionaire wealth; and in the case of 65 per cent, it was inherited. In contrast, 60 per cent of their male colleagues built their own fortunes.
Wealth knows its limits: There is a wealth ceiling of 10 billion dollars that few people are able to break. Ninety-five per cent of the world’s billionaires are worth between 1 billion and 10 billion dollars.
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