The Economist published a neat chart earlier this week showing the net worths of the world's richest people adjusted for age. Since Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is easily the youngest mega-billionaire on Earth, he's the world's richest person when adjusted for age, even though his net worth ($28 billion) is still well below older billionaires like Carlos Slim ($74 billion) and Bill Gates ($56 billion).
This got me thinking about another way to view the wealth of some of the world's richest: the amount of wealth they have accumulated for every hour they've been alive. A few quick calculations revealed the astonishing numbers:
|
Name |
Net Worth |
Age |
Wealth Accumulated for Every Hour Alive on Earth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Zuckerberg | $28.4 billion | 27 | $120,074 |
| Carlos Slim | $74 billion | 72 | $117,326 |
| Bill Gates | $56 billion | 56 | $114,155 |
| Bernard Arnault | $41 billion | 62 | $75,490 |
| Warren Buffett | $50 billion | 81 | $70,466 |
| Larry Ellison | $39.5 billion | 67 | $67,300 |
| Eike Batista | $30 billion | 55 | $62,267 |
| Larry Page | $19.8 billion | 38 | $59,481 |
| Sergey Brin | $19.8 billion | 38 | $59,481 |
| Lakshmi Mittal | $31.1 billion | 61 | $58,200 |
| Mukesh Ambani | $27 billion | 54 | $57,078 |
| Christy Walton | $26.5 billion | 57 | $53,072 |
| Vladimir Lisin | $24 billion | 55 | $49,813 |
| David Thomson | $23 billion | 54 | $48,622 |
| Amancio Ortega | $31 billion | 75 | $47,184 |
| Alexei Mordashov | $18.5 billion | 46 | $45,910 |
Sources: The Economist, Forbes, author's calculations.
For context: In 2007, before the financial crisis, the median net worth in the United States was $125,000. In terms of wealth, therefore, Mark Zuckerberg has accomplished every hour what most Americans have throughout their entire lifetimes.
These figures serve no purpose other than to amaze us. And, boy, are they amazing.
