There are more billionaires now - almost exactly one thousand. Forbes' yearly list had 946 billionaires who are, all together, worth close to $3.5 trillion.
"Never in history has there been such an advance," Steve Forbes, the magazine's editor-in-chief, said.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates is still holding on to top spot with a personal worth of $56 billion. Close friend and finance investment wizard Warren Buffet is a close second with $52 billion.
While No.1 and No.2 were from the US, the three remaining slots in the Top 5 belonged to corporate leaders in Mexico, Sweden and India. Carlos Slim Helu, Mexican industrialist in charge of several telecom giants, was No. 3 with $49 billion.
Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish founder of furniture giant Ikea, was at the fourth position with a personal worth of $33 billion. At number five was India's Lakshmi Mittal, chairman of Mittal Steel, who is worth $32 billion.
The list of billionaires surged with 178 new members this year, and the list now features 53 nations, including Serbia and Romania.
After almost 20 years of dominating Asia's list, Japan has been overtaken by India this year. India has a total of 36 billionaires, worth just a little less than $200 billion.
The US still dominates the list, with 415 billionaires or about 44 percent of the list.
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