According to the latest Forbes’ annual rich list, Beijing now has more billionaires than any other city in the world.
The business magazine states that last year, the Chinese capital added 33 billionaires. This means it has overtaken New York City, which had remained in the top spot for the past seven years.
The rise in ranking was helped by China’s quick containment of Covid-19, the success of its technology firms and stock markets.
Although Beijing now has more billionaires than New York, the US city still has a higher combined net worth of billionaires, totaling US$80bn (£58bn) more than that of those in Beijing.
The richest person in Beijing is the founder of the video sharing app TikTok and chief executive of its parent company ByteDance, Zhang Yimingand. His net worth doubled to $35.6bn.
In comparison, the richest person in New York City, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, had a fortune worth $59bn.
China’s e-commerce boom
Along with the US, China has seen a growth in its technology firms during the pandemic as more people went online for shopping and entertainment. This resulted in huge personal wealth for the founders and shareholders of these tech giants.
With 210 new additions, China added more billionaires to the list than any other country in the world. These figures included numbers from Hong Kong and Macao.
Half of China’s new billionaires came from manufacturing or technology ventures. This includes the female billionaire Kate Wang, who gained her fortune from e-cigarettes.
Although the US is still in the lead with the number of billionaires being 724, China is catching up now with 698 billionaires.
One billionaire every 17 hours
According to Forbes, last year saw a record number of 493 people joining the list worldwide. This equates to roughly one new billionaire every 17 hours.
The third highest number of billionaires was in India, with 140. In total, the 1,149 billionaires from Asia Pacific were worth $4.7tn. In comparison, the US billionaires had a total worth of $4.4 tn.
The world’s richest person for the fourth consecutive year is founder and chief executive of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. Last year, his net worth grew by a staggering $64bn to reach $177bn.
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