KATHMANDU: A quarter of the 2,755 members of the 2021 Forbes World’s Billionaires list live in just 10 cities–including more than 10% who reside in just four Chinese metropolises. For the first time in seven years, the Big Apple lost its No. 1 ranking as Beijing recorded a net gain of 33 new billionaires.
The Chinese capital is now home to 100 billionaires, narrowly beating New York City’s 99. All 10 cities recorded net gains of billionaire residents, reflecting the global growth in billionaires over the last year.
Fueled by China’s pandemic resiliency, the four Chinese cities on this year’s list–Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and newcomer Hangzhou added 96 billionaires between them, compared to a net gain of 53 across the other six cities.
Shenzhen jumped from the seventh most popular city for billionaires to No. 5. Hangzhou squeaked in at No. 10 (bumping the city-state of Singapore from the list), while Shanghai held firm at No. 6.
Despite a turbulent year in the Empire State, New York City added 7 new billionaires. Across the pond, London also counted 7 more billionaire residents, even though it dropped from No. 5 to No. 7 as the most popular home for ten-figure fortunes. Rounding out the top 10, Moscow slipped from No. 3 to No. 4, Hong Kong fell from No. 2 to No. 3, while Mumbai and San Francisco, both home to 48 billionaires, tied at No. 8. Forbes