European Wealth: The Richest People In Europe

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With 468 billionaires, Europe claims 28% of the world’s ten-figure fortunes adding up to an aggregate net worth of $1.95 trillion. Russia leads the count with 111 billionaires – the same number as the state of California – while Germany has the second-highest, boasting 85 ten-digit fortune.

The United Kingdom is home to 47 billionaires, slightly more than its neighbor across the Channel, France, which claims 43 billionaires. Georgia, Guernsey, Lithuania and Romania each have just one billionaire.

An indication of a strong economy, Germany saw 26 new super-fortunes in 2014, earning it the third-highest number of billionaire freshman. Only the U.S.A and China had more first-time billionaires.

This week, Europe’s richest man, Amancio Ortega, saw his net worth fall 3.1%, to $62 billion. He is now the world’s fourth-richest person following downgrades of Ortega Inditex, the parent company of his retailer, Zara.

No European has ever landed the top spot on Forbes’ global wealth list, but the continent is home to the world’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt. Aged 91, the French cosmetics queen is worth $34.5 billion, thanks to her L’Oréal empire.

A third of Europe’s 52 richest, listed below, earned their fortunes in fashion and retail, including brand names Miuccia Prada and Giorgio Armani, as well as H&M giant Stefan Persson, who is third-wealthiest in the continent. (Not all industries are as glamorous; German Georg Schaeffler made his $14.3 billion from ball bearings.)

Prada is just one of six women in this shortlist of Europe’s richest. She is joined in this elite group by Bettencourt, BMW’s Susanne Klatten and Johanna Quandt, beverage inheritor Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and oil heir Carrie Perrodo.

Several of Europe’s richest live outside their country of citizenship. Though an Irish passport holder, Pallonji Mistry lives in Mumbai, India. Hansjoerg Wyss lives in Wilson, Wyoming, while both Wertheimer brothers live in New York.

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