In 2020 China became the first country to have more than 1000 billionaires among its citizens. Despite the hardships of 2020, China added over 250 more billionaires, allowing them to reach an important milestone. According to data presented by TradingPlatforms.com, There are now 1058 billionaires in Greater China, over 32% of the world’s total billionaire population.
China Added 259 Billionaires in 2020, Extends Lead on USA
2020 was an unprecedented year in many aspects with many industries negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, 2020 actually saw the biggest wealth increase of the last decade with an average of 8 billionaires being added to the billionaire list every week for the whole year.
Impressively, China added more billionaires to the list than the rest of the world combined in 2020. China added 259 billionaires in 2020 making them the first country in the world to have 1000 ‘known’ USD billionaires with a total of 1058 – over 32% of the world’s total billionaire population. This gives China more billionaires than the combined total of the next three countries on the list; USA (696), India (40) and Germany (19). In the last 5 years alone, China has added 490 billionaires to the list while the USA added 160.
Notably, 2020 marked the first time, perhaps in hundreds of years, that the continent of Asia had more billionaires than the rest of the world combined, accounting for over 51% of the entire planet’s known billionaires.
New Industrial Revolution In The Aftermath Of COVID-19
The Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 reshaped many landscapes with the world needing to adapt to a ‘new normal.’ As drastic as the events of 2020 were, long term thinking and mentality of businesses and industries may have shifted after the learnings from the pandemic. When the pandemic’s first wave hit many developed markets at the beginning of 2020, massive amounts of wealth was wiped out in the first two months of the coronavirus outbreak. However, soon after that, an almost V-shaped recovery took place spearheaded by a global economy needing to go digital.
Experts explained: “EVs, e-commerce, blockchain and biotech have been the fastest growing industries of the past year…. We are currently right in the heart of a new industrial revolution, with the ABCDEs – that is AI, blockchain, cloud, data and e-commerce – creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs and leading to a concentration of wealth and economic power on a scale never seen before. The world’s billionaires now have US$14 trillion of wealth between them, more than the GDP of China last year.”
As a result, tech billionaires such as Elon Musk ($197B) saw an incredible increase in their wealth in 2020, even propelling the enigmatic billionaire to become the richest person in the world, a title that he alternates with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($189).
More Blockchain Billionaires on 2020 List
Blockchain, in particular, grew strongly in 2020, adding 11 billionaires to the list for a total of 17 billionaires from the new industries of crypto exchanges, investors, and crypto miners. In total, blockchain wealth amounted to $77B in 2020, led by Brian Armstrong of Coinbase with $11.5B.
