Billionaire capital Beijing keeps top spot in the world, based on the recent findings in the Hurun Global Rich List 2017 announced on Tuesday.
For two years in a row, Beijing has been on the top of the list, followed by New York, Hongkong, and Shenzen, respectively.
With a net worth of $81 billion, Bill Gates is still the world’s richest man. Warren Buffett is in second place, with a worth of $78 billion.
For the first time, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com Inc, got into the top three, after a 37 percent increase in his wealth. He is now worth $72 billion.
For the second year running, China surpassed the number of billionaires in the U.S. China has 609 while the U.S. has 552. Based on reports, the two countries account for the 50 percent of billionaires in the world.
Germany surpassed India, having the third largest number of billionaires. The UAE and Indonesia made it to the top 20 for the first time.
According to Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, "Shenzhen and Hong Kong now have one of the highest concentrations of wealth in the world, ahead of even California, the state with the most billionaires in the U.S."
"Global wealth is being concentrated in the hands of the billionaires at a rate far exceeding global growth," he added.
Over the previous year, China had additional 41 billionaires. The average age of Chinese billionaires was 58, younger that the global average by 6 years.
Logistics and retail sectors are the top performers globally. The sectors acquired 15 percent and 13 percent of billionaires worldwide.
SF Express Group Co’s CEO Wang Wei became the third richest man in China with the company’s IPO in February. The company is the number one delivery and logistics firm in the country.
Wang’s wealth increased five times, giving him a net worth $27 billion. Dalian Wanda’s Wang Jianlin and Alibaba’s Jack Ma had $30 billion and $29 billion, respectively.
The real estate sector gave the biggest number of Chinese billionaires, followed by the manufacturing, technology, media, and telecom industries.
Fifteen percent of billionaires are women. Out of the 152 women billionaires, 121 are Chinese, making the China “the best place in the world to be a female entrepreneur," according to Hoogewerf.
As billionaire capital Beijing keeps the top spot, China can look forward to a bright future.