The Richest Person in 40 Countries
Though the U.S. has a disproportionately large share of billionaires — a list dominated by tech heavyweights including Elon Musk, who recently became the first person in the world with a net worth of more than $300 billion — it by no means has a monopoly on the ultrawealthy.
We scoured Forbes to find the richest person in 40 countries, including plenty of wealthy people you’ve probably never heard of (though many have seen their fortunes dwindle in a so-far bearish year for stocks). For comparison’s sake, we also included data from global investment bank Credit Suisse on the average citizen’s wealth in each of those nations, but unless otherwise noted, information was drawn from the July 6 Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List, which continually updates when markets are open. If you like a horse race, follow along and watch these fortunes ebb and flow.
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Age: 50
Net worth: $225.5 billion
Average wealth per adult in the United States: $505,421
New to this spot atop the heap: South African-born Musk, the founder of Tesla and co-founder of what became PayPal. Musk, who's also head of aerospace technology company SpaceX, recently leap-frogged Amazon's Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world. He was also the first person ever with a net worth of more than $300 billion, though a tough first half of 2022 has taken a toll on stock values and Musk’s worth.
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Age: 72
Net worth: $143.9 billion
Average wealth per adult in France: $299,355
If you have a taste for luxury, chances are you’re a fan of Arnault’s brands, which include Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Sephora, and Dom Perignon. His first major acquisition was Christian Dior, which he bought in 1985 using millions his father earned in construction.
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Age: 60
Net worth: $101.9 billion
Average wealth per adult in India: $14,252
Adani is founder, chairman and managing director of Adani Group, which controls Mundra Port, India's largest commercial port. The infrastructure tycoon's interests include real estate, power generation and distribution, and commodities. He also holds a 74% stake in Mumbai Interanational Airport, India's second largest, making Adani the country's biggest airport operator.
Age: 82
Net worth: $84.3 billion
Average wealth per adult in Mexico: $42,689
Slim is chairman of América Móvil, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies and the largest cellular provider in Latin America. He also owns chunks of other businesses from construction to real estate — and even a large chunk of The New York Times.
Age: 67
Net worth: $72.1 billion
Average wealth per adult in China: $67,771
Zhong’s massive fortune comes mainly from two sources: He’s chairman of the massive Nongfu Spring bottled water company, and he heads Beijing Wantai, a biopharmaceuticals company.
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Age: 86
Net worth: $56.7 billion
Average wealth per adult in Spain: $227,122
Ortega co-founded Inditex, parent company of Zara and several other fashion brands, in the ’70s. He also owns stakes in telecom and natural gas companies.
Age: 65
Net worth: $49.2 billion
Average wealth per adult in Canada: $332,323
Thomson is a media magnate who chairs Thomson Reuters, which his grandfather founded. He also owns part of telecommunications giant Bell Canada.
Age: 53
Net worth: $44.9 billion
Average wealth per adult in Hong Kong: $503,335
Electric vehicles are commanding a growing chunk of the automotive market, and many are powered by batteries made by Zeng’s company, Contemporary Amperex Technology.
Ages: 70 and 74
Net worth: $34.5 billion
Average wealth per adult in Germany: $268,861
Heiser and Albrecht are heirs to the Aldi fortune. Their father, Karl Albrecht Sr., built Aldi into the global discount grocery giant with his brother, Theo Sr., who also bought Trader Joe’s in the early ’70s.
Age: 57
Net worth: $34.3 billion
Average wealth per adult in Italy: $239,244
Ferrero is executive chairman of his family's namesake confectionery business, whose familiar products include Nutella, Ferrero Roche, and Tic Tac. The company also owns chocolatier Nestle, known for KitKat and Baby Ruth candy bars and many other sweet products.
Age: 50
Net worth: $29.1 billion
Average wealth per adult in Russia: $27,162
Melnichenko, who dropped out of college in 1991 to form a chain of currency-exchange booths after the Soviet Union fell, is founder of SUEK, a coal-energy producer, and EuroChem, a fertilizer manufacturer. Melnichenko resigned from the boards of both companies in March, following sanctions imposed by the European Union.
Age: 68
Net worth: $28 billion
Average wealth per adult in Australia: $483,755
Gina Rinehart is chairwoman of Hancock Prospecting, the iron ore company her father, Lang Hancock, founded in 1955. Reinhart is also Australia's second-largest cattle producer.
Age: 73
Net worth: $26.7 billion
Average wealth per adult in Japan: $256,596
Yanai is chairman, president, and CEO of Fast Retailing, the parent company of familiar fashion brands including Uniqlo, Theory, and Helmut Lang.
Age: 78
Net worth: $24 billion
Average wealth per adult in Austria: $290,348
Mateschitz co-founded Red Bull in 1987, and the former marketing executive helped grow it into the corporate giant it is today by associating it with all things thrilling and extreme.
Ages: 40
Net worth: $23 billion
Average wealth per adult in Switzerland: $673,962
Pousaz owes his fortune to Checkout.com, a processor of online payments that he founded in 2012, which saw transactions rise threefold in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Pousaz, who is CEO, is estimated to own nearly two-thirds of the London-based company.
Age: 81
Net worth: $20.6 billion
Average wealth per adult in Indonesia: $17,693
Along with his brother, Michael, Hartono owns part of Bank Central Asia as well as electronics company Polytron and gaming-products company Razer.
Age: 71
Net worth: $18.3 billion
Average wealth per adult in Singapore: $332,995
Li is founder and chairman of Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics, which makes a range of medical devices, including ventilators, ultrasound machines, vital-signs monitors, and defibrillators.
Age: 79
Net worth: $16.2 billion
Average wealth per adult in Chile: $53,591
Fontbona and her children inherited the fortune of her late husband, Andrónico Luksic, founder of Luksic Group. The company owns portions of several prominent mining, financial, industrial, and beverage companies.
Age: 74
Net worth: $15.7 billion
Average wealth per adult in Sweden: $336,166
Fast fashion is the source of Persson’s fortune: He owns more than one-third of global apparel brand H&M, though he stepped down as chair in 2020. His father, Erling, founded H&M in 1947.
Age: 54
Net worth: $15.2 billion
Average wealth per adult in the United Kingdom: $290,754
A hedge fund manager, Platt is CEO and co-founder of BlueCrest Capital Management, a London-based asset manager. Platt started BlueCrest Capital in 2000 along with American William Reeves. Both worked as traders at J.P. Morgan & Co. prior to going into business together.
Age: 68
Net worth: $14.9 billion
Average wealth per adult in the Netherlands: $377,092
The name gives it away here — Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken inherited a major stake in the massive beer company when her father Freddy Heineken died in 2002. Her great-grandfather, Gerard Adriaan Heineken, founded the company in 1864 in Amsterdam.
Age: 82
Net worth: $14.6 billion
Average wealth per adult in Brazil: $18,272
An investment banker who later became a controlling shareholder of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest beer-maker, Lemann and his business partners also own a stake in Burger King's parent company, Restaurant Brands International.
Age: 65
Net worth: $14.1 billion
Average wealth per adult in Nigeria: $6,451
The richest person in Africa, Dangote is founder and chairman of Dangote Cement, which operates in 10 African nations. He is also building a massive oil refinery and has stakes in sugar and salt manufacturing.
Age: 72
Net worth: $13.8 billion
Average wealth per adult in Israel: $228,268
Ofer’s late father, Sammy Ofer, left Eyal much of his massive shipping business. The younger Ofer now chairs Ofer Global, which invests in real estate, shipping, banking, and other industries.
Age: 83
Net worth: $12.8 billion
Average wealth per adult in Thailand: $25,292
Senior chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, Dhanin Chearavanont turned over the reins to his animal feed and livestock company to two of his sons in 2017. In 2020, the company bought Tesco’s 2,000 stores in Thailand and Malaysia.
Age: 49
Net worth: $11.9 billion
Average wealth per adult in Denmark: $376,069
Povlsen owns Bestseller, an apparel company with several brands and thousands of stores worldwide. He also owns a stake in ASOS, another major fashion retailer, and part of payments company Klarna. His riches haven't safeguarded him from tragedy; he lost three of his children in the 2019 Easter terror attacks in Sri Lanka.
Age: 77
Net worth: $11.6 billion
Average wealth per adult in Cyprus: $142,304
Tankers, deep-water rigs, and other trappings of the oil trade have made Fredriksen a tidy sum. He’s also a major player in fish farming, and owns part of Norwegian seafood company Mowi.
Age: 98
Net worth: $10.9 billion
Average wealth per adult in Malaysia: $29,287
If you’ve ever stayed at a Shangri-La hotel or resort, you have Robert Kuok to thank. Kuok founded the international chain in the early ’70s and now owns Kuok Group, which has stakes not just in hospitality, but food, agriculture, real estate, and more.
Age: 31 and 33
Net worth: $9.5 billion (each)
Average wealth per adult in Ireland: $266,153
Brothers John and Patrick Collision came up with the idea for their online payment company, Stripe, while both were still in college. John, the younger of the two, serves as president, while Patrick is CEO and serves as spokesman for the company.
Age: 67
Net worth: $9.3 billion
Average wealth per adult in New Zealand: $348,198
Hart, a high-school dropout, has done well for himself, indeed. His private investment company, Rank Group, has grown companies including Reynolds Consumer Products, famously known for aluminum foil and Hefty trash bags.
Age: 75
Net worth: $9 billion
Average wealth per adult in Belgium: $351,327
Wittouck invested returns from his family’s sugar company, Tiense Suiker, with a private equity firm that has made him even richer. The firm, Invus, has partnered with big names including Keebler, Weight Watchers, and Blue Buffalo.
Age: 77
Net worth: $8.5 billion
Average wealth per adult in South Africa: $20,308
Oppenheimer, formerly chair of the most notable name in diamond mining, DeBeers, sold his 40% stake in the family company in 2012. He went on to found a charter-flight company, Fireblade Aviation.
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Age: 54
Net worth: $7.8 billion
Average wealth per adult in South Korea: $211,369
Jay Y. Lee is vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, the popular maker of consumer and industrial electronics and other products, including household appliances. Lee was sentenced to 2½ years in prison in 2021 on charges of bribing a confidante of once-imprisoned former president Park Geun-hye.
Age: 72
Net worth: $7.7 billion
Average wealth per adult in the Philippines: $15,290
Villar is chairman of Vista Mall, a major mall operator in the Philippines, as well as the nation’s largest homebuilder, Vista Land. He also has a home-improvement store chain, AllHome.
Age: 69
Net worth: $7 billion
Average wealth per adult in Greece: $104,603
Safra, a native of Greece, inherited her wealth from husband Joseph Safra, a banker who was Brazil’s richest person until his death in December. She has a philanthropic foundation, and her four children share a portion of their father’s fortune.
Age: 61
Net worth: $6.7 billion
Average wealth per adult in Egypt: $19,468
Sawiris heads OCI, a massive nitrogen fertilizer company, and has a sizable stake in Adidas, where he is on the supervisory board. He also has a stake in the parent company of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers.
Age: 53
Net worth: $5.6 billion
Average wealth per adult in Vietnam: $14,075
Pham Nhat Vuong got his start selling instant noodles, but pivoted to investing with Vingroup, a conglomerate that invests in autos, real estate, technology, and other sectors.
Age: 55
Net worth: $4.5 billion
Average wealth per adult in Ukraine: $13,104
A son of a coal miner, Akhmetov is invested in mining and steel as well as thermal and wind power. The controversial figure also has stakes beyond industrial and energy holdings, including in finance, real estate, retail, and telecommunications companies, and recently sued Russia for business losses following its February invasion of Ukraine.
Age: 65
Net worth: $3.8 billion
Average wealth per adult in Finland: $167,711
Herlin chairs Kone, which makes elevators and escalator systems for buildings around the world. He also owns part of Swedish media firm Sanoma.
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Age: 50
Net worth: $2.3 billion
Average wealth per adult in Romania: $50,009
Dines is co-founder and CEO of UiPath, which helps companies streamline parts of their businesses with virtual automation. Clients include big names such as Toyota, Deloitte, and LexisNexis.
