Billionaire count set to hit 4,000 by 2031 as global wealth inequality widens

The world is set to witness an ultra-rich boom ahead in the next five years as the number of billionaires in the world could reach nearly 4,000 by 2031.

According to an analysis performed by the estate agent Knight Frank, currently 3,110 billionaires exist globally and this number is expected to go up by 25 percent, reaching 3, 915.

The forecast suggests that in the near future, the super-rich will accumulate wealth at an alarming rate, making the world a more unequal basis of wealth distribution.

The number of multimillionaires worth at least $30 million has also expanded globally by more than 300 percent, as reported by Knight Frank. Today, there are 713,626 millionaires compared to 162,191 in 2021.

According to Liam Bailey, the head of research at the state agency, the potential boom in wealth has often been driven by massive tech profits especially in the field of artificial intelligence.

“The ability to scale a business has never been higher. That has fed into the ability to make big fortunes quickly, supercharged by tech and AI,” he said.

The research also found that oil-rich Saudi Arabia is going to witness a significant surge in billionaires. Currently, 23 billionaires belong to this Gulf country and by 2031 the number will reach 65.

Similarly in Poland the number will also grow double from 13 to 29 and in Sweden, around 81 percent rise is expected over the same period.

The report also raises the concerns about growing wealth inequality as the gap between the world’s richest and poorest has continued to widen. According to last year’s World Inequality report, fewer than 60,000 people, or 0.001 percent of the world’s population, hold three times as much wealth as the whole of humanity.

The total wealth held by these billionaires is estimated at $18.3 trillion. The organizations like Oxfam and various other campaigners are worried about the growing political influence of these super-rich people while calling for increased taxation.

The top three spots on the Forbes rich list are dominated by American tech founders:

• Elon Musk (Tesla): $785.5 billion
• Larry Page (Google): $272.5 billion
• Jeff Bezos (Amazon): $259 billion

Rory Penn, who chairs the private office business at Knight Frank, warned against the gap between wealth creation and complex global economic backdrop.

He said, “The ultra-wealthy are becoming markedly more mobile, yet the list of markets where they feel genuinely comfortable investing or basing their families has narrowed.”