The Number of African Billionaires is Increasing

How is the great wealth of the African continent evolving? The ‘Billionaire Census 2024’ report, published very recently by the wealth management consultancy Altrata, has just analysed the situation of the wealthiest people on the planet and shows that the number of African citizens with a wealth of one billion dollars or more has risen by 3.6% compared with the figures recorded in 2022.

At the global level, North America remains the region with the highest number of billionaires: 1,111 people with a combined wealth of over 5,000 billion dollars. Europe comes second, with 980 ultra-rich people with a combined wealth of more than 3,170 billion dollars, followed by Asia, with 806 billionaires: their total wealth is estimated at 2,573 billion dollars.

Africa, meanwhile, is experiencing a dynamic that is attracting the interest of financial analysts: while the number of billionaires has risen significantly, their total wealth has fallen by 3.7% compared with 2022.

At the end of 2023, Africa had 29 billionaires, with a combined wealth of almost 80 billion dollars. There are many factors behind this slowdown.

Firstly, the high instability in international economic markets due to the global geopolitical context has severely strained commodity-producing countries. Secondly, the continent is still facing political instability and social crises in several states.

Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Côte d'Ivoire are currently suffering from a decline in purchasing power due to spiralling inflation, government over-indebtedness and a significant drop in international aid.

Six African billionaires are now among the top 500 wealthiest people on the planet, with a combined worth of almost $65 billion.

These ultra-rich include great fortunes linked to the luxury goods market, such as Johann Rupert, principal shareholder in Richemont, the world's second-largest luxury goods company. His wealth is estimated at 14.2 billion dollars. Also on the list is South Africa's Nicholas Frank Oppenheimer, whose family founded the De Beers mining company in 1917, one of the world's largest diamond producers. Egypt's Naguib Sawiris, linked to the political movements that led to the ousting of former president Mohamed Morsi, has gross assets of 7.32 billion dollars and controls Endeavour Mining, the leading West African gold group.