In the middle of all the chaos in the world, Forbes magazine did not forget to celebrate its ritual of publishing its 40th annual World’s Billionaires List on 10 March 2026. The list not only reveals the continuing billionaire boom in the numbers and the growing concentration of power and wealth, but also highlights the rise of global inequality. Fortunes and fault lines move together in a world of plenty and pleasure controlled by so few, while the vast majority of people struggle to manage their everyday lives and to fulfil their basic needs for a dignified living.

According to the Forbes list, there are 3,428 billionaires in the world, and their combined net wealth has increased from $1 trillion in 2000 to $20.1 trillion in 2026. In the last year alone, billionaires’ wealth increased by $4 trillion from 2025 to 2026. In 2026, 400 billionaires were added to the list—the highest number since the publication of the Forbes Billionaires List began in 1987. This means the world has produced more than one billionaire per day over the past year while millions of people lost their jobs. In this year’s list, there are 20 billionaires with 12-figure fortunes as members of the $100 Billion Club, collectively owning $3.8 trillion, while 700 million people struggle to survive on $2.15 per day.

These billionaires are not merely the products of their own talent, hard work, creative abilities or family linages, just as the 700 million people........

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