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Compared to other countries, the United States saw the largest expansion of its billionaire class in 2025, according to the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report. By the Switzerland-based investment bank’s count, the number of American billionaires rose from 835 in 2024 to 924 in 2025. The U.S. is now home to nearly a third (31.7%) of the global billionaire population. (Note: UBS uses a slightly different methodology than Forbes for tracking the world’s ultra-rich.)

According to the UBS Global Wealth Report, in 2023 the world’s richest 1 percent, those with more than $1 million, owned 47.5 percent of all the world’s wealth – equivalent to roughly $214 trillion. Adults with less than $10,000 make up nearly 40 percent of the world’s population, but hold less than 1 percent of the world’s wealth. UBS defines “wealth” as the value of financial assets plus real assets (primarily housing) of an individual, minus their debts.

“Ultra high net worth individuals” — the wealth management industry’s term for people worth more than $30 million — hold an astoundingly disproportionate share of global wealth. These wealth owners held 6.5 percent of total global wealth, yet represent only a tiny fraction (0.003%) of the world population, based on Institute for Policy Studies analysis of Capgemini and Credit Suisse wealth data and UN Population Fund population estimates.

While wealth concentration is increasing in nearly every country, it takes significantly more wealth to rank among the top 1% in different countries. According to the Knight Frank Wealth Report, in the United States, you need to be sitting on at least $5.8 million to join this elite club. That’s 5.4 times as much as the minimum needed to be in the top 1% in China, the second-largest economy after the United States, and 1.5 times as much as in Germany, the third-largest economy. The elite European enclaves of Monaco and Luxembourg have the highest thresholds.