who topped the forbes world's billionaires list 2017
The World's Billionaires In 2017, there was a record of 2,043 people on the list, which is the first time over 2,000 people were listed, that included 195 newcomers that included 76 from China and 25 from the U.S.; there were 56 people under 40 and it had a record of 227 women.[5] The average net worth of the list came in at US$3.75 billion, down US$110 million from 2015. Added together, the total net worth for 2017's billionaires was US$7.67 trillion, up from US$7.1 trillion in 2015.[2][6] In 2017, 500 of the richest people in the world became richer by $1 trillion, according to a report by Bloomberg News.[7][8] As of 2017[update], Microsoft founder Bill Gates has topped the list 18 of the past 23 years.[2]
List of richest Americans in history Virtually all sources[citation needed] agree on John D. Rockefeller being the richest American in history, although these sources appear to define riches as an individual's wealth as a share of contemporary GDP.