Hurun launches Global Rich List, 5 Chinese listed

Eighty-three individuals worldwide with personal fortunes totaling 10 billion U.S. dollars or more have been listed on the Hurun Global Rich List 2012, which was released Tuesday in Beijing.

Carlos Slim, 73, tops the list with a personal fortune of 55 billion U.S. dollars, according to the report launched by the Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute, which is known for its annual China Rich List.

According to Hurun's first global rich list, Bill Gates, 57, ranks as the world's second-richest individual with a 50-billion-U.S.-dollar fortune, and Warren Buffet, 82, comes in third with 48 billion U.S. dollars.

The 83 multibillionaires have a staggering combined wealth of 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars, an amount equivalent to the total national debt of the UK, said the report, with the wealth calculations as a snapshot of Feb. 24, 2012.

"While the U.S. and Europe still boast the lion's share of the Ten Billion Dollar Club, with 27 and 17 members, respectively, Russia, South America and the emerging giants of China and India are snapping at their heels," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report.

China has five people on the list, including four from Hong Kong and one from the Chinese mainland. Li Ka-Shing, 84, shares the 13th spot on the list with four others, making him the richest Chinese individual on the list with a personal fortune of 24 billion U.S. dollars.

Chinese beverage magnate Zong Qinghou of soft drink maker Wahaha,China's largest beverage producer, ranks 78th with a personal fortune of 10.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Zong is also the richest person in the Chinese mainland, said the report.

"It won't be long before entrepreneurs from countries like China and India become more dominant. It is why Hurun Report, best-known for the Hurun China Rich List, has decided to put out a Global Rich List," said Hoogewerf.

Hoogewerf began compiling the China Rich List in 1999 and has been releasing it for 14 years.

The Hurun Rich List is not only an indicator of China's economic might, but also demonstrates the evolution of China's social and political system, said Hoogewerf.

Chinese entrepreneurs are becoming more and more mature and confident. They are daring to join the global market competition, and emerging in the "global wealth Olympics," he added.

The average age of those on the Ten Billion Dollar Club is 66. And 56 of the 83 people listed, or almost two-thirds, are self-made multibillionaires with an average wealth of 18.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, 28, is the youngest self-made man on the list, as well as the 8th richest, with a personal fortune of 26 billion U.S. dollars, followed by the next-youngest men, Google's Sergey Brin, 39, and Larry Page, 39, with 17.5 billion U.S. dollars each.

"Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin and Larry Page are inspiring a whole generation of new entrepreneurs," according to Hoogewerf.

Ten women also made it to the list, and all of their fortunes were inherited.