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Forbes Announces Annual List Of The World’s Richest Billionaires

Forbes has announced their annual list of the richest people in the world, and topping the list for the third time in a row is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who is currently worth $75 billion.

According to a report in Forbes, some factors have led to a shuffling of the world’s wealth, including a drop in the number of billionaires, for the first time since 2009. These factors include unstable stock markets, crashing oil prices, and the steady rise of the dollar.

In their 30th annual billionaire guide, Forbes has found that the number of billionaires in the world has dropped from 1,826 to 1,810 in a year. The billionaires’ collective worth has dropped $570 billion in the past year to $6.48 trillion in 2016. 221 people got cut off the list while 198 newcomers joined.

Two newcomers to the top ten list are Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (who seems to have had the best year) and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. The 31-year-old Facebook founder has increased his wealth by $11.2 billion and moved up from number 16 to number six.

Only two people who were previously in the top ten have managed to stay there, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett at spot number one and three respectively. Zara founder Amancio Ortega holds spot number two, moving Mexico’s Carlos Slim down to number four.

190 women are on the list (less than last year’s 197) , including Zhou Qunfei, whose $5.9 billion fortune making smartphone screens has made her the richest self-made woman in the world. The youngest billionaire in the world is also a woman – 19-year-old heiress Alexandra Andresen.

The most amount of billionaires in the world are based in the U.S. The country has 540 billionaires as of 2016. Mainland China has 251, Germany 120 and Russia 77.

You can watch a video of Forbes assistant managing editor of wealth Luisa Kroll revealing the list of the world’s billionaires on CBS’s This Morning show here.

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