The scatter chart shows the world top 500 billionaire headcount index (number of billionaires per million inhabitants: y-axis, logarithmic scale) as a function of their home country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita (x-axis). The trend is indicated by the blue regression curve. There is a moderate correlation between the billionaires per million index and the country's GDP per capita, as indicated by the r and the R² statistics in the table below. To put it in plain terms, a prosperous economy does not necessarily foster individual super-wealth.

The source of the wealth being global, billionaires often choose to become citizens, or at least residents, of the most benign tax sanctuary. This explains why we find in the chart, positioned above the regression curve, those countries whose prosperity is boosted by luring the ultra-wealthy foreigners who earn their income elsewhere. Some instances are Liechtenstein, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus or Monaco. The latter provides a shining example: it is an agreeable harbor for the rich and famous of the sports, the performing arts, the finance world. A paradigmatic free-loader.

Towards the center of the chart and close to the curve, one finds the group of prosperous economies such as Switzerland, the Scandinavian, Germany, the Netherlands, United States, Australia, etc. with a high GDP per capita, and a sizable number of billionaires. Rich people in a rich country, it makes sense.

The lower left area is crowded with low GDP per capita countries, of which some concede a large percentage of people living below the national poverty line. India, Indonesia, Philippines and South Africa have millions of people struggling in dire poverty while at the same time feeding billionaire fortunes.The table provides the latest available data on the levels of poverty and inequality, allowing everyone to question the absurd neighborhood of the ultra-rich and ultra-deprived.

 

 

 

Sources: The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, 2024, United Nations Population Division, The World Bank-DataBank, CIA - The World Factbook.