Surge in Billionaires in the US
A new billionaire joined the ranks in the US last year, and it seems quite a few others did as well.
According to a recent report from UBS, the Global Wealth Report released on Wednesday, the US welcomed over 379,000 new billionaires in 2024.
That’s more than 1,000 individuals achieving billionaire status each day, which, if you really think about it, represents the largest influx of new billionaires seen globally under similar economic conditions, as highlighted in the report.
The total number of billionaires in the US increased by 1.5%, reaching about 23.8 million. This number is significant—making up approximately 40% of all billionaires worldwide.
In 2024, the US, mainland China, France, Japan, and Germany had the highest counts of billionaires, totaling around 6.33 million, 2.9 million, 2.73 million, and 2.68 million respectively. It’s interesting how the distribution of wealth is so skewed globally.
On a larger scale, the world gained over 684,000 new billionaires last year, marking a 1.2% increase from 2023. Overall, global wealth saw a boost of 4.6% in 2024.
Wealth expansion in 2024 appeared heavily concentrated in North America, primarily attributed to a strong US dollar and vigorous financial markets. Interestingly, Eastern Europe also experienced notable growth during the same period.
In terms of wealth averages, North Americans had approximately $311,846 per adult, while other regions lagged far behind—Europe, the Middle East, and Africa averaged around $167,696, and the Asia-Pacific region came in at $66,808. That really puts things into perspective.
UBS forecasts that both North America and key areas in China will serve as main catalysts for global wealth growth in the next five years. The prediction includes a fascinating projection of 5.34 million new billionaires emerging worldwide by 2029. It’s hard to imagine that many, isn’t it?
