This City Is the World’s Billionaire Capital

For the second year in a row, Beijing has beaten out New York City for being home to the most billionaires among world cities, according to the Hurun Global Rich list.

By Hurun's count, the Chinese capital now has 94 billionaires, a decline of six billionaires from the previous year, but still good enough for No. 1 in the world. New York City saw its number of billionaires drop by nine, to 86. Seven of the top 20 billionaire capitals are now in Greater China, including Hong Kong. Shenzhen added the most, with 16 new billionaires, catapulting it to 4th place on the list.

“Shenzhen and HK now have the highest concentration of wealth in the world, ahead even of California,” Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun report chairman and chief researcher, said in the report.

Here's the top 10:

1. Beijing (94)
2. New York (86)
3. Hong Kong (71)
4. Shenzhen (62)
5. Moscow (59)
6. London (55)
7. Shanghai (53)
8. Mumbai (42)
9. Paris (36)
10. Hangzhou (36)

There are now 2,257 billionaires in the world, up 69 from last year and 804 over the past 5 years. China has the most billionaires of any country, with 609, while the USA comes in second place overall, with 552. Together, the two countries account for 1,161 billionaires, or more than half the world's billionaire population.

"Billionaires are concentrating wealth at a supercharged rate," Hoogewerf said.