The World's Billionaires

*The World's Billionaires*
List of the world's billionaires, ranked in order of net worth
	The net worth of the world's billionaires increased from less than $1 trillion in 2000 to over $16 trillion in 2025.
Publication details
Publisher	Whale Media Investments; Forbes family;
Publication	Forbes
First published	March 1987
Latest publication	April 1, 2025
2025 list details
Wealthiest	Elon Musk
Net worth (1st)	US$342 billion
Number of billionaires	3,028 (from 2,781)
Total list net worth value	US$16.1 trillion (from US$14.2 trillion)
Number of women	406
Number of men	2,622
New members to the list	247
	World’s Billionaires List The Richest In 2025

The World's Billionaires is an annual ranking of people who are billionaires, i.e., they are considered to have a net worth of US$1 billion or more, by the American business magazine Forbes. The list was first published in March 1987.^[1] The total net worth of each individual on the list is estimated and is cited in United States dollars, based on their documented assets and accounting for debt and other factors. Royalty and dictators whose wealth comes from their positions are excluded from these lists.^[3] This ranking is an index of the wealthiest documented individuals, excluding any ranking of those with wealth that is not able to be completely ascertained.^[4]

In 2018, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was ranked at the top for the first time and became the first centibillionaire included in the ranking,^[5] surpassing Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who had topped the list 18 of the previous 24 years.^[6] In 2022, after topping the list for four years, Bezos was surpassed by Elon Musk.^[7] In 2023, Musk was in turn surpassed by French businessman Bernard Arnault, after topping the list for just a year. Arnault became the first French person to top the list.^[8] In 2025, Musk once again became the wealthiest man in the list after surpassing Arnault.^[2]

^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference MW2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b "Forbes World's Billionaires List 2025: The Top 200". Forbes. Archived from the original on 1 April 2025.
^ Cite error: The named reference AL2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Why Putin Isn't on 'Forbes' Billionaires List". Forbes. 2 March 2015. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
^ Kroll, Luisa. "Forbes 2017 billionaires list: Meet the richest people on the planet". Forbes. Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
^ "Bill Gates Was The 'World's Richest Man' For A Record 18 Years". Yahoo Finance. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
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[MW2014-1] Cite error: The named reference MW2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[FOB25-2] "Forbes World's Billionaires List 2025: The Top 200". Forbes. Archived from the original on 1 April 2025.

[AL2014-3] Cite error: The named reference AL2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Why_Isn’t_on_‘Forbes’_List-4] "Why Putin Isn't on 'Forbes' Billionaires List". Forbes. 2 March 2015. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2017.

[Forbes-2017-5] Kroll, Luisa. "Forbes 2017 billionaires list: Meet the richest people on the planet". Forbes. Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.

[6] "Bill Gates Was The 'World's Richest Man' For A Record 18 Years". Yahoo Finance. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2025.

[FOB22-7] Cite error: The named reference FOB22 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[FOB23-8] Cite error: The named reference FOB23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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