There are now more than 3,000 billionaires around the world, and they're richer than ever,

worth a combined $16.1 trillion, but the distribution of this extreme affluence is far from equal.

Just three nations account for more than 50% of all billionaires and billionaire wealth,

while 17 other countries each have just one citizen in the three-coma

club.

Nearly a third of this year's list hails from the United States, which remains the country

with the most billionaire citizens by far.

A record 902 American billionaires made the ranking, up from 813 last year, worth a record $6.8 trillion combined.

All but two of the world's 15 cent billionaires are U.S. citizens, including Elon Musk,

whose estimated net worth is $342 billion. Musk reclaimed the title of the world's richest person from Frenchman Bernard Arnaud of

LVMH for the first time since the 2022 list. American Tech Titans Mark Zuckerberg of Meta with an estimated

$216 billion net worth. Jeff Bezos of Amazon with an estimated $215 billion of net worth, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, with an estimated $215 billion of net worth,

and Larry Ellison of Oracle, with an estimated $192 billion of net worth, round out the list top five.

China boasts the second highest number of billionaires once again, with 450 on this year's list,

who are worth $1.7 trillion combined.

That's up from 406 Chinese billionaires last year, but still short of the record 495 that made the

2,023 list with a combined net worth of $1.7 trillion.

Before a property market crash and stock market

route erased nearly $400 billion of Chinese wealth over the next year. Despite the U.S.

government's attempts to force a sale of TikTok to an American owner, Zhang Yi Ming, who co-founded

the social media app's parent company, Byte Dance, overtook bottled water magnet Zhang Shang Shan to become China's richest person in March

after Bight Dance bought back shares at a $312 billion valuation,

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