The world’s billionaire class has reached a new record, with soaring tech valuations, rising global stock markets, and a fresh wave of inherited wealth driving fortunes to unprecedented heights, according to a new analysis by Swiss banking giant UBS.

UBS found that in 2025, the number of billionaires climbed to around 2,900, who collectively control $15.8 trillion, a sharp rise from last year’s roughly 2,700 billionaires holding nearly $14 trillion.

This marks one of the steepest annual jumps in wealth accumulation since UBS began its tracking a decade ago.

The surge was fueled in part by the second-highest number of new billionaires created in a single year, 287 newcomers, a figure surpassed only in 2021, when pandemic-era stimulus and low interest rates inflated asset prices globally.

“You’ve seen this acceleration of billionaire growth, and it’s actually coming from all areas,” said John Mathews, UBS’s head of private-wealth management in the US, highlighting new fortunes emerging from both entrepreneurship and inheritance.

Tech, markets, and the ‘Great Wealth Transfer’

A strong stock market up to early April 2025 significantly boosted fortunes, despite turbulence triggered by United States President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, which briefly rattled investors before markets resumed their upward trend.

Among the standout new billionaires were tech and business figures such as:

• Ben Lamm, founder of Colossal Biosciences
• Michael Dorrell, co-founder of Stonepeak Partners
• China’s Zhang brothers of Mixue Ice Cream and Tea
• Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun

But entrepreneurship wasn’t the only engine of wealth. UBS said 91 new billionaires inherited their fortunes this year, including 15 heirs from two major German pharmaceutical dynasties.

“We’ve been talking about the great wealth transfer now for over a decade,” Mathews said, adding that this is now coming to fruition. UBS’s head of private-wealth management in the US added that the great wealth transfer is still in its early stages. This historical transfer involves an estimated $84 trillion to $124 trillion in assets moving from Baby Boomers to younger generations and charitable organizations over the next two decades. 

A growing elite across continents

Corroborating UBS’s findings, wealth-intelligence firm Altrata reported that the global billionaire population has risen to 3,508 individuals with a combined $13.4 trillion. One-third reside in the US, while China remains second with 321 billionaires who collectively hold around 10% of global billionaire wealth.

UBS’s 11th annual Billionaire Ambitions report, based on interviews with 87 billionaire clients, also noted shifting investment views. Confidence in North America as the most attractive region for short-term investment has dropped from 81% to 63%, while interest in Western Europe, Greater China, and the broader Asia-Pacific region has grown.

Asian billionaires cited tariffs as their top concern for the year ahead, while most US billionaires were more focused on inflation and geopolitics.