Forbes has published the 39th world ranking of dollar billionaires. For the first time, it was replenished with 247 new members at once. Thus, the number of the wealthiest people on the planet reached 3028 in 2025, setting a new record. For comparison, in 2024, there were 2781 billionaires in the world.
This year, the ranking was headed by Elon Musk. The largest shareholder of Tesla is in first place for the first time since 2022. He is among 1422 people whose fortune has increased this year. The wealth of another 698 billionaires has decreased, but not so much that they are excluded from the list.
Mark Zuckerberg, co-owner of Meta, which owns Facebook, took second place in the ranking. In third place is Jeff Bezos, the founder of the Amazon online store. Fourth is Larry Ellison, the founder of the software manufacturer Oracle, whose first client in 1977 was the CIA. Last year, Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, took fifth place.
Notably, the total wealth of the billionaires on the list reached a record $16.1 trillion, $2 trillion more than the previous year. This amount exceeds the GDP of any country except the United States and China. The average wealth of billionaires is now $5.3 billion, an increase of $200 million compared to 2024.
