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Crises, unemployment, over-indebtedness, poverty, social and economic precariousness — that is today's cocktail for the commoner. For the billionaire breed, courtesy of their tooth fairy, the road is smooth, unencumbered, and unstoppable. The number of billionaires grew from 423 in 1996, to 2,043 in 2017 (7.8% annual average growth, or a 9-year doubling time). Their net worth swelled in parallel from $US 1,393 billion (constant, 2009=100) to $US 6,881 billion (7.9% annual average growth).
World Billionaires | |||||
Year(click on the link to get the list of billionaires for the year) |
Number |
Net Worth |
Average ² |
Median ² |
|
| USD billion current | USD billion constant (2009=100) ¹ |
||||
| 1996 | 423 | 1,050 | 1,393.3 | 3.3 | 2.5 |
| 1997 | 224 | 1,010 | 1,316.8 | 5.9 | 3.8 |
| 1998 | 209 | 1,069 | 1,370.4 | 6.6 | 4.2 |
| 1999 | 298 | 1,271 | 1,611.6 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2000 | 322 | 1,386 | 1,731.2 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| 2001 | 538 | 1,729 | 2,111.0 | 3.9 | 2.3 |
| 2002 | 472 | 1,516 | 1,809.5 | 3.8 | 2.1 |
| 2003 | 476 | 1,403 | 1,650.2 | 3.5 | 2.0 |
| 2004 | 587 | 1,917 | 2,210.4 | 3.8 | 2.2 |
| 2005 | 691 | 2,236 | 2,509.2 | 3.6 | 2.2 |
| 2006 | 793 | 2,645 | 2,875.9 | 3.6 | 2.2 |
| 2007 | 946 | 3,452 | 3,640.8 | 3.8 | 2.2 |
| 2008 | 1,125 | 4,381 | 4,500.9 | 4.0 | 2.3 |
| 2009 | 793 | 2,415 | 2,433.0 | 3.1 | 1.8 |
| 2010 | 1,011 | 3,568 | 3,567.8 | 2.0 | 3.5 |
| 2011 | 1,210 | 4,496 | 4,442.1 | 2.0 | 3.7 |
| 2012 | 1,226 | 4,575 | 4,427.9 | 3.6 | 2.0 |
| 2013 | 1,426 | 5,432 | 5,162.6 | 3.6 | 2.0 |
| 2014 | 1,645 | 6,446 | 6,029.7 | 3.7 | 2.1 |
| 2015 | 1,826 | 7,063 | 6,490.2 | 3.6 | 1.9 |
| 2016 | 1,810 | 6,483 | 5,893.4 | 3.3 | 1.9 |
| 2017 | 2,043 | 7,668 | 6,880.5 | 3.4 | 1.9 |
| Average annual change rate | 7.8% | 9.9% | 7.9% | 0.1% | -1.4% |
| Average annual change rate (1996-2008) | 8.5% | 12.6% | 10.3% | 1.6% | -0.9% |
| Average annual change rate (2009-2015) | 14.9% | 19.6% | 17.8% | 2.5% | 1.1% |
| Average annual change rate (2015-2017) | 5.8% | 4.2% | 3.0% | -2.7% | -1.2% |
| ¹ Adjusted by applying the previous year $US GDP deflator index. ² Average and median values relate to Net Worth in constant $US (2009=100). | |||||
Sources: Forbes List of billionaires.
