The country's decades-long economic boom has produced more billionaires than the U.S. Our datagraphics look at the wealthiest, in each province or major city.
Jack Ma, who founded Alibaba Group, is the richest person in China. Credit: Jolanda Flubacher, Creative Commons
In just a few short decades, China’s wealth has exploded — and unevenly. The country is now home to the world’s largest crop of billionaires with longstanding business giants in real estate and manufacturing, and a herd of unicorn startups.
For this week's issue, The Wire has identified the wealthiest people across China’s provinces, and also looked at a tally of which countries have the most billionaires.
Where Are the Billionaires?
More than a quarter of the world’s billionaires can be found in China, and just under a quarter are in the United States. The number of billionaires in China outstripped the number in the United States in 2016, and the gap has steadily expanded ever since. Consider this: in 2005, Forbes counted just 10 billionaires in China. Today, the magazine says China has about 400.
The world closely watches the never-ending race to rank the rich, which can be viewed as a barometer of a country’s economic growth, a company’s h
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