A
billionaire, in countries that use the
short scaleThe long and short scales are two of several different large-number naming systems used throughout the world for integer powers of ten. Many countries, including most in continental Europe, use the long scale whereas most English-speaking countries use the short scale...
number naming system, is a person who has a
net worthIn business, net worth is the total assets minus total outside liabilities of an individual or a company. For a company, this is called shareholders' preference and may be referred to as book value. Net worth is stated as at a particular year in time...
of at least
one billion1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001.In scientific notation, it is written as 109....
units of a given
currencyIn economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
, usually the
United States dollarThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
,
EuroThe euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
, or
Pound sterlingThe pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
.
ForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine updates a complete list of U.S. dollar billionaires around the world every year.
U.S. dollar billionaires
Based on the
Forbes report released on March 2011, there are 1,210 U.S. dollar billionaires worldwide, boasting a combined total net worth of $4.5 trillion as of February 14, 2011. The United States had 413 billionaires, with a total net worth of $1.5 trillion;
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
had 332 (nearly three times the number two years previously), 115 of whom were in the
People's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
;
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
had 300; and the rest of the world had 165. Among U.S. billionaires, the average age was 66 years.
Long scale billionaires
In countries that use the
long scaleThe long and short scales are two of several different large-number naming systems used throughout the world for integer powers of ten. Many countries, including most in continental Europe, use the long scale whereas most English-speaking countries use the short scale...
number naming system, a billionaire would have 10
12 (1,000,000,000,000) units of currency. There are no known Euro or U.S. dollar billionaires in this sense of the word – in U.S. dollars, such a fortune would be roughly equivalent to the entire 2010
gross domestic productGross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
of
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Short scale trillionaires
Under the short scale number naming system, a
trillionaire would have 10
12 units of currency. Although, as noted above, there are no known U.S. dollar or Euro trillionaires, some individuals have attained fortunes of over one trillion units in other currencies. According to
VnExpressVnExpress is a Vietnamese online newspaper, run by FPT Corporation. It has the highest ranking among other e-newspapers in Vietnam on Alexa.com, number 4, only after Yahoo!, Google, and Google Vietnam....
, 19
VietnameseThe Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
had
stock marketA stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
assets valued at over one trillion đồng in May 2010. According to
The Korea TimesThe Korea Times is the oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea, along with The Korea Herald and The JoongAng Daily. It is part of the same newspaper group as Hankook Ilbo, a major Korean language daily...
, there are 14
KoreanThe Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.-Names:...
s with stock market assets valued at over one trillion
wonThe won was the currency of Korea between 1902 and 1910. It was subdivided into 100 chon .-Etymology:Won is a cognate of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen.-History:...
as of January 2011.
See also
- Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
- Capital gains tax
A capital gains tax is a tax charged on capital gains, the profit realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset that was purchased at a lower price. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals and property...
- List of people reported in the press to be billionaires