World's rich get even richer
China produced around two new billionaires a week last year as the fortunes of the world's ultra-rich soared by a record amount, a report said yesterday.
Billionaires' wealth enjoyed its "greatest-ever" increase in 2017, rising 19 percent to $8.9 trillion ($7.8 billion euros) shared among 2,158 individuals, said the report by Swiss banking giant UBS and auditors PwC.
But Chinese billionaires expanded their wealth at nearly double that pace, growing by 39 percent to $1.12 trillion.
"Over the last decade, Chinese billionaires have created some of the world's largest and most successful companies, raised living standards," said Josef Stadler, head of Ultra High Net Worth at UBS Global Wealth Management.
"But this is just the beginning. China's vast population, technology innovation and productivity growth combined with government support, are providing unprecedented opportunities for individuals not only to build businesses but also to change people's lives for the better."
The report said China minted two new billionaires a week in 2017, among more than three a week created in Asia.
In the Americas region, the wealth of billionaires increased at a slower rate of 12 percent, to $3.6 trillion, with the United States creating 53 new billionaires in 2017 compared to 87 five years ago.
Currency appreciation saw European billionaires' wealth grow 19 percent although the number of billionaires rose by just 4.0 percent to 414.
Wealth transition from just five families accounted for 30 percent of the continent's wealth expansion, the study said.
It warned of lower economic growth in the United States and China if the trade war between the two countries escalates.
It there were only 16 Chinese billionaires as recently as 2006. Now, one in five billionaires, 373 to be exact, live in China.
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