The number of billionaires in Israel increased between April 2023 and April 2024 from 26 to 32, according to the annual billionaires report of the Swiss bank UBS. Israel is in first place among the countries of the Middle East and Africa in the number of billionaires, while the United Arab Emirates rose from 17th to 18th at the same time. The total value of assets in the hands of billionaires in Israel increased from 72.5 billion to 85.6 billion dollars. This places Israel in second place in the Middle East and Africa, with the United Arab Emirates coming in first place with an increase from 99.4 billion to 138.7 billion. That is, Israel has more billionaires – but in the United Arab Emirates each one of them is richer.
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A billionaire is a person whose total capital minus total liabilities is greater than one billion US dollars.
There are indeed more billionaires in Israel than in some Western European countries such as the Netherlands (11), Sweden (28) and Spain (27), but not as many as in France (46) and Germany (117). All these countries dwarf the 835 billionaires in the US, an increase from 751 compared to last year. This is the opposite trend from China, which actually dropped this year from 520 to 427, due to significant problems in the Chinese economy.
Extensive immigration of billionaires
It’s not only changes in the economic situation that turn people into billionaires or deduct them from the title and bring about a change in their number. Billionaires are a particularly mobile population, and this is reflected in their extensive migration. Between 2015 and 2024, 25 billionaires were added to Bento China (most arrived in 2020), 20 to Western Europe, 13 to North America and 8 to the Middle East and Africa. Bento departures were recorded in Ukraine (6), Southeast Asia (8) and Central and South America (9) Eastern Europe suffered the worst negative net migration of billionaires, with 29 leaving it more than Migrated to her.
What do billionaires make their money from? In the first place is the high-tech, the capital in the possession of billionaires invested in it increased by 211% between 2015 and 2024. In second place comes the product industry, with an increase of 178% in the same period of time, and raw materials in third place with a growth rate of 151%. Real estate is in last place, and it has accumulated a return of only 30% in the last decade.
The new billionaires in 2024 were mostly self-made, as opposed to inherited. This figure differs from the situation in 2023, when most of the new billionaires were multi-generational billionaires who inherited most of their wealth. However, there are 6.3 billion dollars in the hands of billionaires over the age of 70, who are part of the post-World War II “Baby Boom” generation, and when they pass away, new billionaires will be created from inheritance.
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