Wealth data firm Wealth-X has released its 2015-2016 Billionaire Census revealing a record number of billionaires globally.

The third edition of the Wealth-X report indicates that there are 2,473 total billionaires in the world, representing a combined wealth of US$7.7 trillion. These figures illustrate a 6.4 percent and 5.4 percent increase since 2014, respectively.

For the report Wealth-X defines UHNW individuals as having at least $30 million in personal wealth (net worth) and billionaires as having a net worth of US$1 billion or greater.

It's A Self-Made Man's World

Male billionaires continue to represent the majority with 140 of the 148 new billionaire additions in 2015 being male, 17.5 times more than women.
A move toward entrepreneurialism by female billionaires – 56 percent inherited their wealth in 2015, nearly a 10 percent drop from 2014.

Billionaires with partially inherited wealth continue to be the fastest growing segment of this population, responsible for nearly two thirds of total billionaire additions and a 29.9 percent increase from 2014.

However achieving billionaire status often requires more than just inheritance; 87 percent of billionaires made the majority of their fortunes themselves, up from 81 percent in 2014.

Technology and Finance

While finance, banking and investment remains the leading industry for billionaires, a subtle shift continues to grow, the number of billionaires in these fields decreased by 5.5 percent while their wealth decreased by 6.6 percent

Industrial conglomerates continue to edge to the top spot with the insurance, retail, diversified financial services, business services and IT services sectors all seeing significant billionaire growth.

Want to be a Billionaire - Move to Asia

Asia leads all regions in growth of both billionaire population and wealth at 15.2 percent and 19.6 percent respectively. Europe’s billionaire population increased by 4 percent however the wealth of billionaires in the region tumbled .8 percent, a decrease of 11 percent of net billionaire wealth.

North America grew 3.1 percent in billionaire population and a healthy 8.0 percent in wealth. Due to its size, these increases accounted for 13 percent of all net billionaire additions and 48 percent of net billionaire wealth.