New research reveals wealth drivers, asset holdings and demographic makeup of world’s wealthiest
The world's population of billionaires reached an all-time high in 2025, with the AI investment supercycle and broad equity market gains lifting both headcounts and fortunes to levels that would have seemed implausible a decade ago.
Altrata's Billionaire Census 2026, published today (August 27) reveals that the total number of billionaires rose 8.2% to 3,795, marking the strongest annual growth rate in five years and capping a decade in which the population has expanded by nearly 60%.
Their combined net worth surged 12.8% to a record $15.1 trillion, a figure roughly equivalent to a quarter of the total market capitalization of the S&P 500. This was the third consecutive year of accelerating growth.
And the concentration of wealth is intensifying with the geographic distribution of billionaire wealth shifting, while a $6.6 trillion generational transfer is set to reshape the client landscape over the next decade.
AI as the defining force in billionaire wealth creation
The AI investment boom was the single most consequential driver of billionaire wealth in 2025.
Of the 150 publicly listed companies globally that contribute the most to billionaire fortunes, those that made a meaningful investment in artificial intelligence outperformed those that did not by 23% in market capitalization growth over 2024–25, according to Altrata's analysis.
Investor enthusiasm for generative AI, large language models, and cloud infrastructure drew unprecedented capital into the technology sector, re-rating a wide swath of companies and dramatically inflating the fortunes of founders and major shareholders.
And although for the first time since the pandemic all major asset classes delivered positive returns, it was AI-exposed technology stocks that set the pace.
The result is visible at the very top of the wealth pyramid. In 2025, the planet's 29 richest individuals (those with fortunes exceeding $50 billion, classified by Altrata as superbillionaires) held a combined net worth of $4.1 trillion, or 27% of all billionaire wealth.
That share has nearly quadrupled from 7.2% in 2017, when 10 individuals each held a $50bn-plus portfolio. The technology sector features prominently in this cohort, whose valuations have been supercharged by AI-related corporate deals and public listings.
The report notes that Elon Musk temporarily became the world's first trillionaire following the mid-2026 public listing of SpaceX.
But sharp fluctuations in AI-exposed tech stocks have become a structural feature of global markets, with real implications for portfolio planning and client expectations.
US dominates wealth concentration
The United States remained the world's dominant billionaire country by a wide margin.
Its billionaire population climbed 11.5% in 2025 to 1,265 individuals, more than three times the level of second-ranked China, which had 363 billionaires after its own 13% expansion.
The proportion of total billionaire wealth held in the US stands at 44%, reflecting both the sheer scale of the American economy and the hyper-concentration of superbillionaires in its technology and financial sectors.
North America as a whole is home to 1,337 billionaires and holds 45% of global billionaire wealth at $6.8 trillion.
Among major cities, New York reinforced its standing as the world's billionaire capital with 164 residents in this wealth tier, adding 12 individuals over the year. San Francisco ranked third globally with 99 billionaires, one of the fastest-growing centers in absolute terms, reflecting its status as the epicenter of the AI investment boom.
Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D.C. also placed in the global top 15, underlining the breadth of American billionaire geography.
Germany was a notable bright spot internationally, recording a 20% increase to mark the fastest growth rate among the leading 15 countries, as its billionaire class, concentrated in multi-generational family-owned enterprises, benefited from solid domestic equity returns and strong currency appreciation.
Billionaire demographics and portfolios
The report shows that the average billionaire is 71 years old, male (87% of the global class), and most likely to have made his own fortune: 62% are self-made, while 30% built their wealth on a combination of inherited and self-created assets. Just 8% fully inherited their wealth.
Banking and finance remains the predominant industry, with roughly 20% of billionaires allocating the bulk of their professional time to that sector; more than double the share of the second-ranked business and consumer services category. Technology accounts for 7.5%, and real estate for 7.1%.
Billionaire portfolios are heavily weighted toward equity.
Some 73% of the average billionaire's assets are held in stakes in listed or privately owned companies, with the largest single allocation (38%) in publicly traded holdings.
Liquid assets such as cash and income equivalents account for approximately 26%, while real estate and luxury assets together represent less than 2%.
Almost 40% of billionaires own, or part-own, commercial interests headquartered outside their primary country of residence; a figure that underscores the global complexity of estate planning, tax strategy, and wealth preservation for this cohort.
One in five billionaires was born in a different country from the one in which they now live and work. In San Francisco, that proportion rises to 41%.
This kind of multijurisdictional complexity in ultra-high-net-worth wealth transfer is already drawing growing attention from advisors, and the data suggests the challenge will only intensify.
$6.6 trillion wealth handover
Another key finding in the report is Altrata's projection of the billionaire wealth transfer over the next decade.
An estimated 1,673 billionaires will pass on their fortunes by 2035, collectively transferring approximately $6.6 trillion in wealth to spouses, adult children, and other beneficiaries.
North American billionaires account for the largest regional share: some 686 individuals are projected to hand down estates totaling $3.3 trillion, a 49% share of global billionaire wealth transfers.
The direct beneficiaries in North America, spouses and adult children, number approximately 2,120 individuals.
The profile of the incoming generation carries clear advisory implications. The average age of an expected adult child heir is 48, placing the primary wave of inheritance squarely among Generation X rather than millennials or Gen Z.
Some 23% of those adult heirs already work alongside their billionaire parent in the primary family business, suggesting that many transfers will not be abrupt wealth events but rather gradual, negotiated transitions within operating enterprises.
Female heirs represent a significant dimension of the transfer.
Women account for 90% of the spouse cohort (a group with an average age of 66) and are also a rising share of adult child heirs as female entrepreneurship and inter-generational asset transfers accelerate.
The report notes that rising female representation in billionaire wealth will expand demand for female-focused wealth management services and increase the influence of women in philanthropic decision-making.
The expected investment preferences of the next generation will also differ markedly from those of their parents. Generation X and millennial heirs are characterized as more mobile, digitally native, and oriented toward impact investing and climate-related themes.
Altrata's Billionaire Census 2026 is the 13th edition of the annual report, based on the firm's proprietary database of the world's wealthiest individuals and its Wealth Transfer Model, which uses individual-level age and life-expectancy data from 46 countries to estimate the probability of transfer within a decade.
