Extremely wealthy people in post-Soviet states are often referred to as oligarchs. The term has Greek origins and can be loosely translated as "rule of the few". Although this word has become a source of controversy following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which led to increased scrutiny of Russia's wealthy, it is true that Russian billionaires are exceptionally rich compared to the size of the Russian economy that created this wealth.
Since Russia began its war (invasion) of Ukraine, a large part of this money has literally evaporated, according to an analysis by the Bloomberg Billionaires index. Why? The Russian economy virtually collapsed and a sell-off of Russian assets began worldwide.
However, as of 10 March, the wealth of billionaires relative to GDP in Russia was still higher than in the US, Canada, and several European countries. Looking back at 23 February, when the wealth of billionaires was still
nearly 21% of Russia's GDP, we can see how extraordinary the position of Russia's ultra-wealthy class really is.
According to data from The Economist, approximately 85% of Russian billionaire wealth can be attributed to the so-called "crony sector", where players in the business and political spheres work together to share profits and
favours. It is known that Russian President Vladimir Putin has for years used this set of loyal and influential individuals to strengthen his power. Of the country's wealthiest people mentioned in the Bloomberg Billionaires index, Gennady Timchenko of the
investment company Volga Group is included on the UK's sanctions list, while EU sanctions apply to Petr Aven of ABH Holdings, Mikhail Fridman of Alfa Group and Alisher Usmanov of Metalloinvest.
The US also shows a very high level of wealth for its billionaires, at 14-15% of GDP. However, despite the fact that the United States is home to approximately 35% of all billionaires included in the Bloomberg index,
including the 9 wealthiest individuals with a "net worth" of $95-221 billion, Russian billionaires are still wealthier compared to their country's economy.
France, India, and Canada ranked high in terms of the ratio of wealth to GDP. Such a result is determined by a few distinctly wealthy individuals who overshadow other billionaires in their respective countries. These are Bernard Arnault of LVMH (net worth $138 billion) and L'Oreal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers ($78 billion) from France, Reliance head Mukesh Ambani ($87 billion) and port operations magnate Gautam Adani ($84 billion) from India, and Changpeng Zhao (Binance) ($67 billion) from Canada.
The second-wealthiest Canadian, Sherry Brydson of the investment company Woodbridge, which controls Thomson Reuters, has a net worth of "only" $14 billion.
Countries that lack such extremely wealthy individuals generally have a lower ratio of billionaire "net worth" to GDP, for example, Germany (7% ratio), the United Kingdom (4%), or Japan (1.6%).
Despite China's large economic power, the wealth of the richest Chinese person, bottled water magnate Zhong Shanshan, is currently only $66 billion. The second-wealthiest Chinese person, Zhang Yiming of TikTok owner Bytedance, has a net worth of only $45 billion, thus contributing to the country's modest result of a 5.7 per cent ratio of billionaire wealth to GDP on 10 March.
In contrast, second-placed Sweden hosts a huge number of very wealthy billionaires from the worlds of business and aristocracy in a small country. Here lie the interests that control global players such as H&M, Securitas, and Tetra Pak. Meanwhile, the wealth of Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad was "scattered" following his death in 2018.
The ratios used in the chart are based on Bloomberg Billionaires Index calculations, which include the 500 wealthiest people in the world, identifying individuals with a net worth of approximately $5.2 billion and above.
