Forbes Rich List - World's Billionaires in 2007

The Forbes billionaires list continues to grow in number, with a record 946 billionaires counted around the world in 2007. The top five positions are pretty much the same as last year, but there have been an impressive 178 newcomers to the list. The combined value of the entire billionaires list rose by $900 billion to $3.5 trillion with an average of $3.6 billion each.

Microsoft's Bill Gates has held on to his number one position for the thirteenth straight year. Gates had a good year with an increase of about $6 billion. His good friend Warren Buffett remains the second richest man in the world with $52 billion, which is up $10 billion from last year. With plans to give much of his vast wealth to charities, Buffett is probably not too concerned about becoming the richest man in the world. Gates will soon be responsible for the bulk of Buffett's generous donations when he takes his fulltime position at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Mexico's richest man has quickly closed the gap between second and third positions with an increase of $19 billion (yes, that's billion with a B!). Not only is that the single biggest increase in wealth this year, but it is the biggest one year increase on the Forbes rich list for the past ten years. Carlos Slim Helu now has $49 billion in assets, which is just $3 billion behind Buffett and $7 billion behind Bill Gates. If Helu continues at this pace while Gates and Buffett devote more time and money to philanthropy, there will soon be a Mexican claiming the title of the richest man in the world.

The Swedish founder of the Ikea furniture company is the first European billionaire on the list, with an estimated net worth of $33 billion. Ingvar Kamprad increased his wealth by $3 billion and reclaims his number three position. Indian born steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal is just behind Kamprad with $32 billion, which is an impressive amount as he had just $23.5 billion last year.

India now has more billionaires than any other Asian country after taking the title from Japan. The number of Indian billionaires increased by fourteen over the past 12 months, bringing their total to 36. While 36 Indians have an estimated $191 billion in net worth, 400 million other Indians live on less than one dollar per day. Japan now has 24 billionaires, which is just ahead of Hong Kong's 21 billionaires and China's 20 billionaires.

This year was the twentieth year of the Forbes world rich list. Forbes has seen the fortunes of business leaders worldwide rise and fall. While Bill Gates made his way to the top (and has stayed there), Yoshiaki Tsutsumi has dropped from being the world's richest person in 1987 to not even being on the list this year

Sources: woopidoo.com