The study, called ‘Emerging Markets: Joining the Global Ranks of Wealth Creators’, was based on analysis of 250 ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) in 22 countries across these three markets.
Worth on average $2.8bn each, the majority of the UHNWIs (78%) are first-generation and 98% are male.
The average fortune of the 20 richest people in Russia is $10.1bn; Middle East $7.6bn; Europe $3.2bn; and Africa $2.3bn.
Kasia Moreno, editorial director of Forbes Insight, said that business people in these emerging regions are “not yet up to the levels of the largest fortunes in mature markets, such as the United States and Western Europe, but they are catching up fast considering the short timespan since their inception”.
Further key findings in the study included:
- Just 6% of the world’s 2,000 largest public companies are owned by billionaires from emerging markets, whereas the latter accounted for 14% of the world’s billionaires.
- Sports, philanthropy and politics are among the top pursuits of billionaires from emerging markets.
- Technology is seen as the industry that will put emerging markets ahead, transforming them into high-value added producers who do not need to rely on inexpensive labour or natural resources for growth.
