According to Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest people, the booming economies of Russia, China, India and Brazil have resulted in the continual increase in the number of billionaires within each country. From MSNBC:
The magazine said China nearly doubled its number of billionaires to 115, while Russia and Brazil posted two-thirds jumps to 101 and 30, respectively. It was the first time countries outside the United States produced over 100 billionaires.
“The bottom line is BRICs, commodities and Asia Pacific,” Forbes told a news conference on Wednesday. “There is a global commodities boom. But as we should have learned … commodities can go up very sharply, they can go down very sharply.”
Brazil, Russia, India and China produced half the world’s 214 new billionaires, double last year’s 97 newcomers. The Asia Pacific was home to 105 newcomers, three-quarters of whom earned their fortunes from stakes in public companies.
China now has 115 billionaires, the wealthiest being Baidu CEO Robin Li with a net worth of $9.4 billion. However, the richest man in the world is still Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim. To read more about the 2011 Forbes Billionaires, see here.
