13 stats you need to know about the Forbes 2018 Billionaire List

1.  2,153 billionaires, 
2. 55 fewer than a year ago. 
3. 994, or 46%, are poorer (relatively speaking) than they were last year. 
4. Total wealth  $8.7 trillion, down $400 billion from 2018. 
5. 11% of last year’s list members, or 247 people, dropped out of the ranks, the most since 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.
6. 195 new billionaires joine the ranks 
7. Asia-Pacific was hardest hit, with 60 fewer 10-figure fortunes. That dip was led by China, which has 49 fewer billionaires than a year ago. 
8. Europe, the Middle East and Africa also lost ground. The Americas, driven by a resurgent Brazil, and the U.S. are the only two regions that have more billionaires than they did a year ago. 
9. There are  607 billionaires in the U.S. That includes 14 of the world’s 20 richest.
10. Jeff Bezos is again number 1 in the world, followed by Bill Gates at number 2.
11. The richest newcomer is Colin Huang, the founder of Chinese discount web retailer Pinduoduo, which went public in the U.S. in July. 
12. Other notable new entrants include Spotify’s Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon; Juul Labs’ James Monsees and Adam Bowen, Kind Bar’s Daniel Lubetzky and cosmetics wunderkind Kylie Jenner, who is the world’s youngest billionaire at age 21.
13. 7 of the top 20 billionaires have come from technology  – Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Snapchat, Stripe, Tencent –  

Posted on March 5, 2019