Beijing passes New York to become billionaire capital of the world – Forbes says China’s growth is building 10-figure fortunes far faster than the US

Apr 8 , 2021

A man walks past a Prada store in Beijing, the city that according to Forbes now has the greatest number of billionaires on the planet. Photo: Reuters

The richest resident of China’s capital is Zhang Yiming, founder of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, while ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg is New York’s wealthiest

Globally, 660 people became new billionaires last year, while American billionaires became an average of 44 per cent richer amid the pandemic

The world officially has a new billionaire capital. For the first time ever, Beijing is home to more billionaires than New York City, according to Forbes’ annual “World’s Billionaires List 2021”.

The Chinese capital gained 33 new billionaires in 2020, bringing its total to 100, and just edging out New York City at 99 billionaires, per Forbes. The Big Apple added only seven new billionaires in the same time span. In terms of total population, New York City is about 40 per cent the size of Beijing, with a population of 8.4 million versus Beijing’s roughly 21 million.

Beijing’s richest resident is Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok parent company ByteDance, who’s worth US$35.6 billion. In New York City, ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg is the wealthiest, with a net worth of US$59 billion.

The US has long been home to more billionaires than any other country in the world, but China has been catching up. China and Hong Kong have minted 210 new billionaires in the past year, more than any other nation, according to the Forbes report.

Zhang Yiming, Beijing’s richest resident. Photo: handout

Five Chinese cities rank among the 10 cities with the most billionaires, including Special Administrative Region Hong Kong in third place with 80 billionaires, Shenzhen in fifth with 68, and Shanghai in sixth place with 64.