There are fewer than 4,000 billionaires worldwide, and they now hold a record $15.1 trillion. That’s nearly half of the U.S. economy

In 2025, there were fewer than 4,000 billionaires worldwide, collectively holding a record $15.1 trillion in wealth - nearly half of the U.S. economy which was valued at $32.5 trillion as per St. Louis Fed. This wealth is comparable to the population of a full MSG, a tenth of Yankee Stadium, or the residents of an average New England town. Representing only 0.00005% of the global population, they constitute about one in every two million people alive today.

The billionaires' wealth is significantly more concentrated than the city rankings suggest, with the San Francisco Bay Area reportedly home to six of the world's richest people, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and others. Germany, despite having the third-largest nominal GDP, does not have a city in the top 15, due to wealth in Germany being more distributed across the country.

Altrata expects billionaires to transfer $6.6 trillion to spouses and children over the next decade, with roughly 2,000 of these being spouses. More than 60% of these transfers are expected to be self-made billionaires. Altrata predicts that by 2040, about 70% of the ultra-wealthy population will not be in it today.