From tech to oil to supermarkets: these countries house the most billionaires

In a world where the gap between rich and poor seems to be growing ever wider, there are countries where extreme wealth is strikingly concentrated. In 2025, a handful of countries will be home to the majority of the world's billionaires, with a combined wealth of trillions of euros. Who tops the list? 5. Russia With 140 billionaires […]

In a world where the gap between rich and poor seems to be widening, there are countries where extreme wealth is strikingly concentrated. In 2025, a handful of countries will be home to the majority of the world’s billionaires – with a combined wealth of trillions of euros. Who will top the list?

5. Russia 

With 140 billionaires and a total fortune of €539 billion, Russia is in fifth place. The wealthiest Russian? Vagit Alekperov, with a fortune of €26,7 billion. He once worked on an oil rig in the Caspian Sea, later he became deputy oil minister in the Soviet Union. In 1991 he seized three major oil fields and founded Lukoil, now the largest independent oil company in Russia.

4. Germany 

Neighboring Germany has 171 billionaires this year, together worth €737 billion. The richest among them is Dieter Schwarz (€38,1 billion), founder of the Schwarz Group, the parent company of Lidl and Kaufland. What started as a fruit wholesaler owned by his father, Dieter built into Europe's largest supermarket empire from 1973 onwards.

3 India

According to Forbes, India will have 2025 billionaires in 205, with a combined wealth of €875 billion. At the top is Mukesh Ambani (€86 billion), the man behind Reliance Industries, active in oil, telecom and retail. 

Unlike many other billionaires who prefer to stay in the background, the Ambanis are far from anonymity. Last year, son Anant hosted a three-day pre-wedding party in Jamnagar, complete with 1.600 guests including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Ivanka Trump.

2. China

China will be in second place in 2025 with 450 billionaires, together worth €1,58 trillion. With Zhang Yiming at the top, China makes it clear: the new power lies with tech. In 2012, the billionaire founded the company ByteDance from his four-room apartment, known for the hit app TikTok. The company is now active in e-commerce, gaming, education and news. Zhang stepped down as CEO and chairman in 2021.

1. United States

The United States remains the clear leader in 2025: 902 billionaires, worth €6,32 trillion. That is almost a third of all billionaires worldwide.

Elon Musk, with an estimated net worth of €318 billion, not only tops the US list, but is once again the richest person in the world, dethroning Bernard Arnault and is followed by other American tech icons such as Mark Zuckerberg (€200 billion), Jeff Bezos (€200 billion) and Larry Ellison (€178 billion).

This research was conducted by Forbes. Curious about the full list of billionaires in 2025? View the website here.