Wealth of world billionaires surges 24% to $9 trln in 2017

The total number of billionaires in the world reached 2,754 in 2017, increasing 15 percent from the prior year, Wealth-X, a global wealth intelligence and insight provider, said in its "Billionaire Census 2018" report.

The total wealth of the billionaires, including public and/or private holdings, liquid assets (cash or cash equivalent), real estate and other luxury assets (such as art collection, yachts, jets, etc), jumped 24.4 percent year-over-year to $9.205 trillion.

“Although the year 2017 had its fair share of political upheaval, the remarkable performances in equity markets and global economy supported robust wealth gains across the financial, commodity, technology and industrial sector,” said Winston Chesterfield, director, Wealth-X.

The consultancy attributed the growth in the number of billionaires and their wealth party to the relatively stable exchange rates against the US dollar, as their net worths were converted into dollar amounts.

Meanwhile, Asia overtook North America for the first time in eight years in terms of its billionaire population. The number of billionaires in Asia rose by 29.2 percent to 784 from 2016 - 57 more than that in North America. However, Europe continued to have the most billionaires at 821.

The number of female billionaires jumped 18 percent to 321, outpacing the growth rate of 14.5 percent in male billionaires. 

The US lead with 680 billionaires, followed by China at 338, excluding Hong Kong, Germany 152, India 104 and Switzerland 99.

Among global cities, New York topped the list of most billionaires with 103 ahead of Hong Kong at 93 and San Francisco at 74.