The number of billionaires in the world has grown dramatically over the past few decades. According to the annual list published by Forbes, there are now more than 2,600 billionaires globally.
At the start of the century, the number was far smaller. In 2000, the Forbes Billionaires List counted only about 470 billionaires worldwide.
This means the global billionaire population has more than tripled in roughly two decades.
Several factors helped drive this rapid growth. The rise of the technology industry, globalization, massive expansion of stock markets, and the creation of new industries—from social media to e-commerce—produced unprecedented wealth.
Companies like Amazon, Tesla, and Meta helped create many of the newest billionaires, particularly in the United States and China.
At the same time, large fortunes in sectors such as finance, luxury goods, manufacturing, and energy continued to grow as global markets expanded.
The result is a world where the billionaire class has grown faster than at any other time in modern economic history.