Recruiting in China

Beijing beat New York City to become the "Billionaire Capital of the World" for the second year running, according to Hurun Global Rich List released on Tuesday.

The new list ranked 2,257 billionaires, up 69 from last year and a growth of 55 percent or 804 over the last five years.

Total wealth among billionaires increased by 16 percent to $8.0 trillion, equivalent to 10.7 percent of global GDP, and up from 7 percent of global GDP five years ago.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said global wealth is being concentrated in the hands of the billionaires at a rate far exceeding global growth.

New York has the highest concentration of billionaires, with 86, followed by San Francisco and Los Angeles on 29 and 23 respectively. The USA is the world's capital for immigrant billionaires. Two-thirds self-made, with one-third inherited. Average age among USA billionaires increased to 66, two higher than the list average.

Bill Gates, 61, is still the richest man in the world, despite only growing 1 percent to $81bn. Warren Buffett, 86, held onto second place, increasing his wealth to $78 billion, up $10 billion after a surge in the Berkshire Hathaway share price.

Jeff Bezos, 53, of Amazon, has broken into the Top 3 for the first time. Mark Zuckerberg, 32, the youngest of the Top 10, shot up to fifth, his highest ranking yet.

Chinese billionaires led the USA for the second year running, with 609 compared with 552, up 41 and 17 respectively. Hoogewerf said "China and the USA have half the billionaires in the world."

The combined net worth of Chinese billionaires is $1.6 trillion, 2.1 percent of the global GDP. Real Estate has generated most billionaires (120), followed by Manufacturing and TMT with 115 and 78 respectively, according to the report.

China is number 1 in the world in terms of generating self-made billionaires akin to "rags to riches" and is home to two-thirds of the world's self-made female billionaires.

Led by Beijing, 5 Chinese cities made the top 10 cities and 7 the Top 20. Average age is 58, six years younger than the list average.

Shenzhen surprised many by adding 16 billionaires to propel it into fourth place, just behind Hong Kong.

A February IPO propelled Wang Wei, 46, of SF Express to third spot, with a five-fold growth in his wealth to $27 billion, just behind Wang Jianlin and Jack Ma. Corporate raider Yao Zhenhua of Baoneng saw the fastest growth on the list, rising almost eight-fold to $15 billion.

Investments overtook tech to become the main source of wealth for American billionaires, with 121 and 112 billionaires respectively, followed by retail with 57. The combined wealth of U.S. billionaires was $2.6 trillion, 3.4 percent of global GDP.