China Herald: Fewer people have more wealth

Rupert Hoogewerf

More wealth is concentrated in less hands, and the pace is accelerating, says Rupert Hoogewerf, chief research of the China rich list Hurun after publishing his Hurun Global Rich List, according to the CNBC. And most billionaires are living in China.

CNBC:

The world's billionaires are now worth $8 trillion, greater than the GDPs of Germany and France combined.

According to the latest Hurun Global Rich List, published by the China-based Hurun Report research unit, there are now 2,257 billionaires in the world — up 3 percent from last year.

Their combined fortunes jumped 16 percent over 2016, to the equivalent of 11 percent of the world's annual GDP. Their wealth was also larger than every country's individual GDP, other than the U.S. and China.

"Billionaires are concentrating wealth at a supercharged rate," Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report's chairman and chief researcher, said in a statement.

Indeed, the number of billionaires has exploded over the past five years, rocketing 55 percent higher. Because much of the world's wealth is hidden or difficult to find, the actual number of billionaires may be closer to 5,000, Hoogewerf said.

"While some billionaires go to extraordinary lengths to conceal their wealth, for the most part it is that they are discreet and prefer operating under the radar," he said.

More at CNBC.

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