Forbes' list includes a total of 2,781 individuals, 141 more than last year and 26 more than the publication's previous record in 2021.

According to Forbes, the billionaires on the list are "richer than ever," worth a total of $14.2 trillion in aggregate, which is up $2 trillion from 2023 and $1.1 trillion above the previous record set in 2021.

The United States had the most billionaires on the list, with 813 worth a total of $5.7 trillion, while China had the second most with 473, worth a total of $1.7 trillion.

Overall rankings

Overall, the five wealthiest billionaires on Forbes' list are:

1.       Bernard Arnault, who oversees the LVMH conglomerate of 75 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora, worth $233 billion

2.       Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX, worth $195 billion

3.       Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, worth $194 billion

4.       Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, worth $177 billion

5.       Larry Ellison, chair, chief technology officer, and co-founder of Oracle, worth $141 billion

Billionaires in the healthcare industry

Forbes divided its list of billionaires into several categories. The billionaires from the United States on the healthcare list include:

73. Thomas Frist Jr., founder of Hospital Corp. of America, worth $26.2 billion

203. Carl Cook, CEO of Cook Group, worth $10.6 billion

312. Ronda Stryker, director of Stryker Corp., worth $8.2 billion

334. John Brown, former chair of Stryker Corp., worth $7.7 billion

364. Reinhold Schmieding, founder of Arthrex, worth $7.3 billion

469. Patrick Soon-Shiong, inventor of the cancer drug Abraxane, worth $6.2 billion

529. Li Ge, chair and CEO of Wuxi Apptec, worth $5.6 billion

563. Jon Stryker, grandson of Stryker Corp. founder Homer Stryker, worth $5.4 billion

809. (tie) Robert Duggan, entrepreneur who led the sale of biotech firm Pharmacyclics to AbbVie in 2015, worth $3.9 billion

809. (tie) Pat Stryker, philanthropist and founder of Bohemian Foundation, worth $3.9 billion

920. Leonard Schleifer, co-founder and CEO of Regeneron, worth $3.5 billion

949. Stewart Rahr, who expanded Kinray and sold it to Cardinal Health in 2010, worth $3.4 billion

991. August Troendle, CEO of Medpace, worth $3.3 billion

1062. Wayne Rothbaum, founder of Quogue Capital, worth $3.1 billion

1330. Alice Schwartz, co-founder of Bio-Rad Laboratories, worth $2.5 billion

1545. George Yancopoulos, chief scientific officer of Regeneron, worth $2.1 billion

1623. Amy Wyss, daughter of Hansjoerg Wyss who founded Synthes, worth $2 billion

1694. (tie) John Abele, co-founder of Boston Scientific, worth $1.9 billion

1694. (tie) Keith Dunleavy, founder of Inovalon, worth $1.9 billion

1694. (tie) James Leininger, founder of Kinetic Concepts, worth $1.9 billion

1764. (tie) Phillip Frost, who runs Opko Health, worth $1.8 billion

1764. (tie) Gary Michelson, retired orthopedic and spinal surgeon who holds around 340 U.S. patents for orthopedic and spinal surgery instruments, worth $1.8 billion

1851. Alan Miller, founder of Universal Health Services, worth $1.7 billion

1945. Hao Hong, chair of Asymchem Laboratories, worth $1.6 billion

2046. (tie) Randal J. Kirk, chair of Third Security, LLC., worth $1.5 billion

2046. (tie) Timothy Springer, immunologist and professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Harvard Medical School

2046. (tie) Jeff Tangney, co-founder of Doximity, worth $1.5 billion

2152. (tie) Noubar Afeyan, founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, worth $1.4 billion

2152. (tie) David Paul, founder and CEO of Globus Medical, worth $1.4 billion

2410. Robert Langer, scientist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worth $1.2 billion

2545. (tie) Joe Kiani, founder of Masimo Corp., worth $1.1 billion

2545. (tie) Forrest Preston, founder of Life Care Centers of America, worth $1.1 billion

2692. (tie) John Oyler, CEO and co-founder of BeiGene, worth $1 billion

2692. (tie) Roy Vagelos, who served as chair and CEO of Merck & Co. from 1984 to 1994, worth $1 billion

(Forbes 2024 "World's Billionaires List," accessed 4/3)

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