Wealth research and insight firm Wealth-X recently released its annual Billionaire Census — a report identifying and analyzing the different trends and behaviors of the world's 2,473 billionaires, including the most common hobbies and the regions of the world that play host to the most tycoons.
Europe is home to the most billionaires with 806, followed by Asia (645) and North America (628).
But at $2.56 trillion, North America's uber-wealthy are the richest — thanks in part to Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, who is still the wealthiest person on the planet, with a net worth of $77.1 billion.
Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific each are home to titans of industry with eye-popping fortunes in their own right, and Wealth-X identified the richest from each region.
Read on to learn about the wealthiest person in every part of the globe.
Emmie Martin and Tanza Loudenback contributed reporting.
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Pacific: Gina Rinehart
Net Worth: $9.5 billion
Country: Australia
Industry: Mining
The richest person in Australia is mining tycoon Gina Rinehart. Her family was one of the largest landowners in the country, and her father vastly increased their wealth in the 1950s by establishing an iron-ore prospecting business on their vast holdings that would become Hancock Prospecting. Rinehart, 62, was born into wealth, but greatly expanded her lot, including inking a partnership between Hancock and natural resources behemoth Rio Tinto on a massive iron ore project called Hope Downs.
Slumping iron ore prices have diminished her fortune in recent years. Rinehart has also been involved in long, drawn-out legal battle with two of her children over control of significant chunks of the family fortune.
Africa: Aliko Dangote
Net Worth: $10.4 billion
Country: Nigeria
Industry: Diversified investments
At 20, Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote borrowed money from his uncle to start a business that dealt in commodities trading, cement, and building materials. He quickly expanded to import cars during the country's economic boom. Four years later, in 1981, he formed Dangote Group, an international conglomerate that now holds diversified interests including food and beverages, plastics manufacturing, real estate, logistics, telecommunications, steel, oil, and gas.
The majority of the 59-year-old Dangote's wealth stems from his stake in Dangote Cement, which is publicly traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and is worth some $9.5 billion.
Middle East: Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud
Net Worth: $19.7
Country: Saudi Arabia
Industry: Diversified investments
Prince Alwaleed — grandson of Abdul Aziz al Saud, the first ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — built his fortune with savvy investments in a range of companies across the US and the Middle East. He founded Kingdom Holding Co. in 1980 and has since invested in everything from real estate to entertainment to education, with stakes in companies like Twitter, The Four Seasons, Time Warner, and Motorola.
Alwaleed, 61, has an enigmatic relationship with his money. In 2013, he sued Forbes for allegedly underestimating his wealth. But last summer he announced plans to donate his entire fortune to charity anyway.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider