Statistics
The Internet bubble created the most paper wealth for some billionaires. However, once the dotcom bubble burst the new rich saw their fortunes disappear. Billionaires' fortunes have been hit even harder by the global financial crisis. 2009 was the first time in five years that the world had a net loss in the number of billionaires. The strong performance of the financial markets and global economic recovery have erased financial assets losses. Most of the richest people on the planet have seen their fortunes soar in the past few years.
| Year | Number of billionaires | Group's combined net worth |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 1,426 | $5.4 trillion |
| 2012 | 1,226 | $4.6 trillion |
| 2011 | 1,210 | $4.5 trillion |
| 2010 | 1,011 | $3.6 trillion |
| 2009 | 793 | $2.4 trillion |
| 2008 | 1,125 | $4.4 trillion |
| 2007 | 946 | $3.5 trillion |
| 2006 | 793 | $2.6 trillion |
| 2005 | 691 | $2.2 trillion |
| 2004 | 587 | $1.9 trillion |
| 2003 | 476 | $1.4 trillion |
| 2002 | 497 | $1.5 trillion |
| 2001 | 538 | $1.8 trillion |
| 2000 | 470 | $0.9 trillion$898 billion |
Source: Forbes Magazine.
Read more about this topic: Forbes List Of Billionaires (2009)
Famous quotes containing the word statistics:
“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts—for support rather than illumination.”
—Andrew Lang (1844–1912)
“July 4. Statistics show that we lose more fools on this day than in all the other days of the year put together. This proves, by the number left in stock, that one Fourth of July per year is now inadequate, the country has grown so.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“We ask for no statistics of the killed,
For nothing political impinges on
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Missing or healing, sinking or dispersed,
Hundreds of thousands counted, millions lost.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)