The early years of the pandemic were a boom time for the billionaire class, with a new billionaire being minted every 30 hours in 2020 and 2021, according to Oxfam International. But according to a new report from global data intelligence firm Altrata, 2022 wasn’t so kind to the billionaire class. As a matter of fact, both their numbers and their total wealth declined.
Altrata’s Billionaire Census 2023 report combed data on the billionaire class and found that in 2022 there were 3,194 billionaires in the world. That’s a decline of 3.5% from a year earlier. And the total wealth of billionaires was down in 2022, too, declining 5.5% to $11.1 trillion. Interestingly, though, the billionaire class in some regions of the world took a bigger hit than others.
Asia saw the largest drop in billionaires, declining 7.1% to 835 individuals. Latin America and the Caribbean took the next biggest hit, declining 3.4% to 141 billionaires. And North America took third place when it comes to decline. Billionaire numbers were down 2.3% to 1,011 individuals.
Africa’s billionaires remained flat in 2022, at 46 individuals. And the Pacific region is the only area that saw an increase in billionaires, up 2.5% to 41 individuals.
So what caused the overall drop in billionaires in 2022? Altrata says it comes down to “a slump in capital markets” leading to rising interest rates, inflation, and increased caution from investors—all of which saw the Nasdaq drop 32% for the year and the S&P 500 down 18% for the year. In other words, the economic turmoil that is contributing to mass layoffs didn’t spare the billionaire class either.
Altrata’s report also shares some other interesting insights into the billionaire class by location. Surprising no one, the United States had the most billionaires in 2022, at 955 individuals. China was next at 357 individuals, while Germany came in third place with 173 billionaires.
When it comes to cities, New York came in first place with 136 billionaires, Hong Kong was second with 112 billionaires, and San Fransisco was third with 84 billionaires.
You can read Altrata’s full Billionaire Census 2023 report here.
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