Indians dominate Asian Richest Lists on Forbes

Forbes magazine has released their 2007 billionaires list and the list shows that the world’s richest are getting younger and richer.

Russia and India are the two nations contributing the most on the list. Forbes list now include 946 billionaires from around the world.

The magazine said in its report that the number of billionaires this year is 19 percent higher than last year. The net worth of the billionaires of the world grew 35 percent to $3.5 trillion.

The average age of a typical billionaire is now 62 and 60% of the people on this list started with little. This feat alone is pretty impressive.

Forbes Chief Executive Steve Forbes spoke about this year’s list: “This is the richest year ever in human history. Never in history has there been such a notable advance.”

Some of the new entrants on the list this year are: Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks and former Walt Disney boss Michael Eisner.

Not surprisingly, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was the richest man for the 13th straight year. His net worth is estimated at around $56 billion. Second on the list is his close friend Warren Buffett, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway. Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim is on third place with net worth of $49 billion.

Russia now has the third largest number of billionaires with 53 billionaires. Germany has two more and as usual USA led the list with most number of billionaires.

India now dominates the Asian list with 36 billionaires worth a total $191 billion. Japan usually topped this list but is now second with 24 billionaires worth $64 billion.

Here is the top 10 list of Billionaires in the world as per Forbes:

1   Bill Gates              US$56 billion    United States  Microsoft
2   Warren Buffett          US$52 billion    United States  Berkshire Hathaway
3   Carlos Slim Helú        US$49 billion    Mexico         Telmex
4   Ingvar Kamprad          US$33 billion    Sweden         IKEA
5   Lakshmi Mittal          US$32 billion    India/UK       Mittal Steel Company
6   Sheldon Adelson         US$26.5 billion  United States  Las Vegas Sands
7   Bernard Arnault         US$26 billion    France         Louis Vuitton
8   Amancio Ortega          US$24 billion    Spain          Inditex Group
9   Li Ka-shing             US$23 billion    Hong Kong      Cheung Kong Holdings, Hutchison Whampoa
10  David Thomson & family  US$22 billion    Canada         Thomson Corporation

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