Wrong class of people growing

At a time when there is so much economic turmoil around the world, with growth struggling in most economies, it comes as a surprise to know that the count of billionaires has gone up.

According to Wealth-X’s 2015-2016 billionaire census, the combined wealth of the world’s billionaires, defined as individuals with a net worth of $1 billion or above, increased by 5.4% to a record $7.7 trillion. As against this, the GDP of USA is around $17 trillion. The world’s billionaire population grew by 6.4% to 2,473 in 2015.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa are still the regional group with the most billionaires (1,013) while the Americas come in second with 782 billionaires. Interestingly, billionaires with partially inherited wealth continue to be the fastest growing segment of this population, up 30% (YoY).

What the world really needs is not a growing breed of billionaires, who through inheritance feel a sense of misplaced entitlement. What we really need instead is a class of citizens who are ambitious, who want to succeed. This is the "class" we need to expand, not the class of billionaires!