The 100 richest people in the world in 2022

Who led the 2022 wealth ranking?

Elon Musk ranked first with an estimated net worth of US$219 billion. Jeff Bezos followed at US$171 billion, while Bernard Arnault and family ranked third at US$158 billion. The gap between Musk and tenth-placed Mukesh Ambani was US$128.3 billion.

This page preserves the annual 2022 snapshot. It does not describe anyone’s current wealth: share prices, exchange rates, ownership stakes, donations, inheritances and later events have changed many of the figures and positions.

Why does a top 100 table contain 101 people?

The dataset is presented as the “100 richest people”, but it contains 101 records. Luo Liguo and family and Peter Woo both have an estimated US$17 billion and share rank 100. Keeping both names preserves the tie instead of removing one arbitrarily.

How the net-worth estimates were set

Forbes locked the annual list using stock prices and exchange rates from March 11, 2022. Net worth is an estimate rather than cash in a bank account: it may include public and private business stakes, property and other assets after known debt is considered. “Source of wealth” is therefore a short label for the principal business or asset, not a full balance sheet.

Ages also belong to the 2022 snapshot. Several people listed have since died, and later business events have radically altered some fortunes. Those changes make the table useful as a historical record, not as a live leaderboard.

What the 101 records show

The United States accounts for 37 names and China for 18. France, India and Germany each have seven. Fashion and retail leads the industry count with 18 people, followed by technology with 15, finance and investments with 13, and metals and mining with nine. Combined net worth in this extract is about US$4.2787 trillion.

Use the country and industry filters to examine those concentrations. The DexBase country and international-code list provides a separate geographic reference.

Sources and limitations

All 101 records are retained from the CC0 Kaggle dataset 100 Richest People In World. The cutoff date, methodology and leading figures were checked against Forbes’ World’s Billionaires 2022 report. For estimates that change daily, consult the Forbes real-time ranking.

Frequently asked questions

Who was the richest person in the world in 2022?

Elon Musk led the 2022 Forbes annual list with an estimated US$219 billion as of the March 11 cutoff.

Is this a list of today’s richest people?

No. It documents a 2022 snapshot. Current figures require a live source and a clearly stated valuation date.

Why is net worth only an estimate?

Much of a billionaire’s wealth consists of fluctuating shares and private-company stakes. Assets and debts also require valuation.