World's Billionaires' Wealth Drop for 1st Time in 3 Yrs

The world's billionaires' wealth has declined in 2018 for the first time in three years, According to recent data from the Annual Report of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), released on Friday.

The total wealth of billionaires fell by 4.3 percent or $388 billion, compared with the 2017 $8.5 trillion.

The decline in the world's wealthiest came partly due to the strength of the US dollar as well as the volatility of financial markets and less supportive economic conditions with geopolitical factors.

Last year, stock markets around the world suffered the worst correction since the global financial crisis in 2008.

However, global wealth is still $ 2.2 trillion or 35% higher compared to the size of all billionaires in 2013.

Meanwhile, the number of billionaires fell by 2.6 percent or 57 persons in 2018, with the fact that the decline was particularly steep in China and India.

The total wealth of China's wealthy people fell by 12.3% in 2018 and the number of billionaires fell by between 48-325 persons.

There are currently 2,101 billionaires around the world, a figure that is 589 persons or 38.9 percent higher than those five years ago.

The number of billionaires has fallen everywhere across the globe except in the United States as technology companies continue to support the country's rich list.

According to the annual report, only the U.S. billionaires did not suffer in 2018, with their total wealth increasing by about 0.1% year on year.

The US, the world's largest economy, is home to about 749 billionaires with a total wealth of $ 3.6 trillion.

Yet, the Asia-Pacific region has the largest number of the world's wealthiest  with 754 billionaires accounting for 36% of the global map of the world's richest billionaires.

The total wealth of Asia-Pacific stood at $ 2.5 trillion by the end of last year. Within Asia, China accounts for 43% of the billionaires, and India accounts for 14%, while Hong Kong and Japan are home to 9% and 4%, respectively.

Overall, Europe, the Middle East and Africa are seeing 598 billionaires with a total wealth of $ 2.4 trillion.

Interestingly, in the latest version of the SNB report, there has been a noticeable increase in female billionaires on the wealthy list.

In 2018, there are 233 women on the world's richest list, 46% higher than 2013 estimates.

Undoubtedly, the technology sector was the only industry that witnessed an increase in the wealth of those billionaires over the past year, rising by about 3.4% to reach $ 1.3 trillion.

In the last five years, the wealth of technology-based billionaires has almost doubled, up 91.4%.