Thailand emerges as billionaire hotspot, ranked 12th in rich list
Hurun Research Institute released its prestigious 2024 Hurun Global Rich List, revealing that Thailand ranks 12th worldwide for having the highest number of billionaires.
Hurun Research Institute is a leading research, luxury publishing and events group based in Shanghai, China, that focuses on the wealth of people around the world. The Hurun Global Rich List has made the institute famous, and the ranking was launched annually.
This year’s ranking covers wealth accumulated from January 16, 2023, to January 15, 2024. The institute reported that 167 billionaires were added to the list this year, putting the total to 3,279. The achievements of more than half of the new rich have been driven by artificial intelligence (AI).
Elon Musk is the world’s richest person for the third time in four years. In second place is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The other people in the ranking are Louis Vuitton CEO Bernard Arnault, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffett, Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, Larry Page and Mukesh Ambani.
China has the most billionaires in the world with a total of 814, followed by the US (800), India (271), the UK (146) Germany (140), Switzerland (106), Russia (76), Italy (69), France (68) and Brazil (64).
Thailand is ranked 12th on the list with 49 millionaires, up three from last year.
According to Thailand’s Richest 2023 by Forbes, the country’s top millionaires include:
- Thanin Jiaravanon, the country’s largest company, also known as CP
- Chalerm Yoovidhya, Red Bull
- Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, Thai Beverage
- Chirathivat family, Central Group
- Sarath Ratanavadi, Gulf Energy
- Vanich Chaiyawan, Thai Life Insurance
- Prasert Prasarttong-osoth, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS) and Bangkok Airways
- Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, King Power
- Somphote Ahunai, Energy Absolute
- Osathanugrah family, the country’s oldest company Osotspa which is known for the popular M-150 energy drink
Three Thai families were also listed in Bloomberg’s 20 richest families in Asia in 2024, including the Jiaravanon family (ranked 5th), the Yoovidhya family (ranked 6th) and the Chirathivat family (ranked 18th).
