WASHINGTON: Asian billionaires outnumbered their US counterparts for the first time in 2016, and the total wealth of Asian billionaires will likely to overtake that of their US peers in the next four years, according to a report issued Thursday, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
Billionaire wealth in the world increased by 17 per cent to US$6 trillion in 2016 after falling the year before, said the joint annual billionaires’ insight report by UBS Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
“On average, a new billionaire was created in Asia every two days, with the total number of Asian billionaires rising by almost a quarter to 637, compared to 563 in the US,” the report said.
The combined wealth of Asian billionaires grew by almost a third to US$2 trillion in 2016, while the wealth of US billionaires stood at US$2.8 trillion.
“This year we have seen not only a return to growth for billionaire wealth but also a significant shift in its geographic dimensions. A dramatic growth in Asian wealth shows it could overtake the US in just four years,” said Josef Stadler, head of Global Ultra High Net Worth at UBS. – Bernama
