According to the company Wealth-X, in the last five years, the economic elite have succeeded in doubling their assets in spite of the crisis. Another survey of the same company recorded a 20% increase in the wealth of rich Greeks.
The intensification of the financial and fiscal crisis have led to significant losses in the income of middle and lower classes, and heavy social consequences in the most affected countries, but at the same time, the global economic elite remains unscathed.
This data is recorded by the so-called “census of billionaires,” made by the company Wealth-X of Singapore in collaboration with the Swiss investment bank UBS. According to published data, the crisis not only brings losses to the property of the economic elite , but instead, it arrears to increase it. The number of billionaires grew by 880 people worldwide. More than 2,170 people possess monetary assets of over one billion dollars and their total assets have increased over the past five years, from 3.1 to 6.5 trillion dollars.
Germany, with 148 “Croesus,” is among the countries that have the most billionaires. While, 515 billionaires were recorded in the U.S. and 157 in China. Nineteen percent of Germans with a fortune of over one billion dollars, are women.
During the period of the crisis in Europe, it appears that few hands accumulate great amounts of money. Moreover, the composition of the group of billionaires changes rapidly. The number of billionaires in Asia–the Near East and Africa–which rose to a double-digit rate, is considerably bigger than the respective number in Europe and North America.
As recorded in a survey of Wealth-X, published in September, the assets of 505 people in Greece exceeds 30 million dollars. This is an increase of 11%. According to the same survey, the richest Greeks managed to increase their total assets by 20%.
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