China produced nearly four in every 10 new billionaires this year, outpacing the number of new faces in the US and allowing Shanghai to leapfrog Hong Kong for the first time in terms of the number of super-rich, Hurun Report Inc said.
The world’s second-largest economy added 182 of 479 new billionaires, taking the tally in China to 799, according to the latest Hurun Global Rich List 2020. The US minted 59 new ones to raise its total to 626.
The ranking was based on valuations on January 31, Shanghai-based Hurun Report Inc said in a statement on Wednesday. The firm has been compiling the list for nine years, it added.
There were 2,816 “known” billionaires from 71 countries and 2,182 companies, whose combined fortunes surged 16 per cent to a record US$11.2 trillion, the list shows, as markets climbed through months of bitter US-China trade war and other geopolitical tensions and crises.