Moscow enters top-five world cities for number of billionaires – report

Nearly a third of the world’s richest live in just 15 cities, a new survey has revealed

Moscow took fifth place in the latest ranking of cities which are home to the world’s richest, according to Altrata’s 2024 Billionaire Census, which was released on Wednesday.

The data tracked by the British consultancy shows that last year, 28% of the world’s 3,323 billionaires lived in 15 cities. New York was home to 144 billionaires, topping the list. It was followed by Hong Kong, San Francisco, and London, which had 107, 87 and 78 billionaire residents, respectively. Moscow rounded out the top five with 77 billionaires.

According to the report, in 2023, both the number of billionaires and their combined wealth returned to growth after declining in 2022 and hit record levels. The number of people with fortunes of at least one billion climbed 4% year-on-year in 2023.

The report highlighted that 15 countries were home to more than three-quarters of the global billionaire population. The US remained the world’s leader; the number of billionaires in the country surged 9.9% from the previous year, totaling 1,050 people.

China, which ranked second, recorded a sharp decline in its number of billionaires, which dropped 14.8% to 304. Germany saw a drop of 1.7% to 170. India’s billionaire population grew the most. It was up 15.9% year-on-year; the South Asian nation is now home to 304 billionaires.

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The UK saw a 7% increase in the number of billionaires, to 122. Meanwhile, the billionaire population in Russia grew 5.4% to 118 people, ranking sixth.

While the total wealth of billionaires grew 9% to reach a record $12.1 trillion, global GDP growth was only 3.2% in 2023. Inflation rates averaged 4.6% and 8.3% in developed and developing countries, respectively.