Recession is not a cause to go bankrupt. Research firm Wealth-X and Swiss financial company UBS jointly compiled the global survey of billionaires which showed that the world’s ultra rich individuals have doubled their wealth. The report says that their collective fortune enlarged from $3.1 trillion to $6.5 trillion during the global financial crisis in 2008-2009. Besides, for the recent 4 years, the billionaires have increased in number by 810 or 60%. Currently, there are 2,170 billionaires on earth. Men account for 87% of the ultra rich. Interestingly, the most of women billionaires “earned” their fortunes by inheritance or property partition as a result of a divorce. As for men, 20% account for lawful heirs, another 20% managed to leverage inheritance into greater fortunes. However, astounding 60% are self-made. Experts created a portrait of an average billionaire. This is a 63 year-old man, his assets are worth about $3 billion; his family is comparatively small with two children. Each of billionaires spent on average $22 million on yachts, $16 million on private jets, and $14 million on art objects. Tending to congregate in wealth “hot spots”, the majority live in the U.S., which boasts the most of billionaires (515). China has the second largest population with 157 billionaires. Germany, the U.K., Russia, and India follow next in the list. Their favorite cities are New York with 96 billionaires, Hong Kong with 75, and Moscow with 74. However, the owners of record big wealth do not forget about the soul. So, they have donated to charity $32 million each over the last three years. It seems that billionaires are taking over the world. Meanwhile, Asia enjoys the highest percentage rise in billionaire population (13%) for the recent year. Economists expect the total capital to surge 3-4 times if the current growth pace keeps on.
