The one percent. The ultra-rich. The obscenely wealthy.
No matter how you describe them, the world’s richest people made more money in 2017 than any year in recorded history.
A new report by Swiss bank UBS found that billionaires increased their wealth by 20 percent — to a combined total of $8.9 trillion.
“The past 30 years have seen far greater wealth creation than the Gilded Age,” the report reads. “That period bred generations of families in the US and Europe who went on to influence business, banking, politics, philanthropy and the arts for more than 100 years. With wealth set to pass from entrepreneurs to their heirs in the coming years, the 21st century multi-generational families are being created.”
In the past year, 44 billionaires were created through their inherited wealth.
Meanwhile, China’s ultra-rich are rapidly growing, with two new billionaires created every week.
Currently, there are 2,158 billionaires. Asia has 711 billionaires, compared to 631 in North America. In the next three years, the region’s ultra-rich will be even wealthier than their American counterparts.
“Nowhere else in the world can you find better conditions for growth than in China. The continued progress of wealth creation is supported by government policies liberating the economy, while [urbanization] and business model disruption has crafted powerful new entrepreneurs,” the report reads.