By Pallavi Rao
The world has always had people with incredible wealth: from Roman emperors to John D. Rockefeller who became the world’s first billionaire in measurable dollars. But where do the very wealthiest people live right now?
We visualize the countries with the most billionaires in 2024, sourced from the annual Hurun Global Rich list. A country and city aggregate is also available here.
A caveat to this data. Total wealth estimates are notoriously difficult to get right, and different sources can vary in their billionaire data. For example, Forbes, switches ranks for the U.S. and China, though the overall top three remain the same.
Forbes also has Bernard Arnault as the current richest individual, while Hurun places Elon Musk atop the ranks. Nevertheless, their overall top 10 is similar with a few ranking differences.
Ranked: Countries with the Most Billionaires in 2024
China has 814 billionaires, the most in the world, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2024. Despite holding on to the top spot, China lost 155 billionaires year-over-year, while the U.S. gained 109. The gap between the two countries has now reduced to just 14 billionaires.
| Rank | Country | Billionaires | Change YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  China |
814 | -155 |
| 2 |  U.S. |
800 | +109 |
| 3 |  India |
271 | +84 |
| 4 |  UK |
146 | +12 |
| 5 |  Germany |
140 | -4 |
| 6 |  Switzerland |
106 | +6 |
| 7 |  Russia |
76 | +6 |
| 8 |  Italy |
69 | +11 |
| 9 |  France |
68 | -4 |
| 10 |  Brazil |
64 | +13 |
| 11 |  Canada |
53 | +8 |
| 12 |  Thailand |
49 | +3 |
| 13 |  Indonesia |
47 | +12 |
| 14 |  Australia |
45 | 0 |
| 15 |  Japan |
44 | +12 |
| 16 |  Singapore |
42 | +5 |
| 17 |  South Korea |
37 | +4 |
| 18 |  Israel |
29 | +9 |
| 19 |  Spain |
27 | +1 |
| 20 |  Sweden |
25 | -2 |
| N/A |  Other |
327 | N/A |
Together, the U.S. and China account for nearly half of the 3,279 billionaires globally, leagues ahead of closest peers, #3 India (271) and #4 UK (146).
Collectively however, European countries account for six of the top 10 and eight of the top 20 countries with the most billionaires.
Naturally, the world’s largest economies tend to be overrepresented on billionaire counts, as they provide more opportunities for wealth creation.
Switzerland, Singapore, and Sweden are outliers in this regard, with only one of them making the top 20 economies by total gross domestic product.
All three countries are perceived to have high tax rates, generally not conducive to amassing wealth. But perceptions can be misleading. Sweden, for example, has no inheritance tax, a flat rate on capital gains, and a corporate tax rate at 21%.
Source: Visual Capitalist
