China is Now Home to 819 Billionaires

Zoe Stephens | Dec 11, 2018 3:35 pm | Add a comment | 3560 reads

China is now home to at least 819 billionaires, more than in any other country in the world. It also goes to show that despite the country's slowing economy (missing growth projections in 2018 for a nine-year low), the ascent of China’s super-rich cannot be dampened.

Back in 2016, China sat in second place on the total billionaire’s list with 206 to its name, less than half of the US’s 585. Since then, however, China has shown the US who’s boss by multiplying their number of exceedingly loaded people to 819 versus 571.

To put that into perspective, China added 210 billionaires to its rich list in 2018 alone (equivalent to four people per week) whereas the US could only muster 19; no mean feat even when you take into account that China’s population is four times larger. Of those, more than one in ten live in Beijing. That means that the Middle Kingdom’s capital is now home to 94 billionaires, six fewer than last year but not far off the UK’s 118 total number of billionaires or India’s 131, who sit in third and fourth place respectively in the rankings.

Looking to grab a piece of the action? You may want to consider quitting your teaching gig and follow in the footsteps of these Chinese billionaires, 120 of which made their fortunes from real estate, 115 from manufacturing, and 78 from technology. And if you’re aiming for the top, you’ll be pleased to hear that overall fortunes are falling, with 229 of this year’s Forbes China Rich List poorer than in 2017 and nearly one third seeing declines of 20 percent or more in their net worth.

That means that you’ll now only need to trump Jack Ma’s (pictured above) smooth USD 34.6 billion, 4 billion dollars less than last year, to become the country’s richest person.