According to the latest data from Forbes, there are now 2,781 billionaires residing on our planet, more than at any point in history. Some worked hard to make their fortunes while others benefited from staggering inheritances.
One factor most have in common is their age. The average billionaire today is 66 years old, but some of 2024’s super-rich are bucking the trend. Using data from Forbes’ real-time billionaires list and other sources, we’ve identified the youngest billionaire in 24 countries around the world.
Ranked from oldest to youngest, read on to find out who takes the top spot in your country and discover the stories behind their 10-figure fortunes.
All dollar amounts in US dollars. Net worth figures correct as of 15 May 2024.
At the grand age of 62, mining magnate Patrice Motsepe is South Africa's youngest billionaire. As the founder and chairman of the mining and mineral company African Rainbow Minerals, he first achieved billionaire status back in 2008, making history at the time as the first Black African to appear on Forbes' prestigious list of the world's billionaires.
In the years since, Motsepe has diversified his business interests, most notably by launching the private equity firm African Rainbow Capital in 2016. Additionally, he owns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club and was appointed president of the Confederation of African Football in 2021.
Motsepe, who's currently worth $2.7 billion (£2.1bn), is a committed philanthropist. In 2013, he became the first African to sign Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge initiative, committing to donate at least half of his fortune to charity.
New Zealand's youngest billionaire is none other than renowned filmmaker Peter Jackson. The 62-year-old director is best known for helming the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film franchises, which have grossed an epic $6 billion (£4.8bn) globally.
However, it was the sale of his special effects company, Weta Digital, that made Jackson a member of the exclusive 10-figure club. He sold the company to Unity Software in 2021 for $1.6 billion (£1.3bn) in cash and stock, and his net worth now stands at a whopping $1.5 billion (£1.2bn).
Weta Digital is responsible for the special effects in some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters, including Jackson's aforementioned fantasy franchises and James Cameron's Avatar series.
Spain's youngest billionaire is 50-year-old businessman Tomás Olivo López. He holds a significant stake in General de Galerias Comerciales, a chain of Spanish shopping centres, and is pictured here during the COVID-19 pandemic at a mall that had been converted into a vaccination centre.
López bought land outside of Marbella in the 1990s and subsequently used it to build his first shopping mall, Parque Comercial La Canada. To date, he's developed six shopping malls across the nation.
His expansive retail empire has amassed him a fortune of $3.1 billion (£2.5bn) according to Forbes.
At 43, Guillaume Pousaz is Switzerland's youngest billionaire, boasting a fortune of around $7.8 billion (£6.2bn). Although Swiss-born, he currently resides in either the UK or Dubai, according to varying online sources.
In 2012, Pousaz founded Checkout.com an online payment processing platform for businesses and consumers worldwide. The company's valuation reached $40 billion (£32bn) in January 2022, but later that year, amidst a downturn in fintech valuations, it dropped to $11 billion (£9bn).
As CEO, Pousaz owns nearly two-thirds of the London-based company. Interestingly, he opted to drop out of college to pursue surfing in California before entering the fintech industry.
Colombia's youngest billionaire is 42-year-old businessman David Velez, who has a $10.6 billion (£8.5bn) net worth. Born in Medellín, Velez's family relocated to Costa Rica when he was nine to escape the chaos wrought by warring drug cartels in the country.
Starting his career in investment banking, Velez was inspired to launch the digital banking company Nubank after noticing that 80% of the market was controlled by five Brazilian banks, which charged high fees for basic financial products.
He co-founded Nubank in 2013 and the organisation went public on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2021. Currently, it has 90 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Velez serves as CEO.
Kishin RK and his father Raj Kumar are among Singapore's leading developers and landlords thanks to their Royal Holdings/RB Capital property empire. Their enviable property portfolio includes the Intercontinental Singapore Robertson Quay and the recently refurbished and reopened Porcelain Hotel in Singapore's Chinatown.
Kishin is the CEO of RB Capital, which currently holds around $5 billion (£4bn) in assets. He's also the chairman of TiffinLabs, a food tech startup with bold plans to shake up the restaurant sector. According to Forbes, his estimated net worth is currently $1.6 billion (£1.3bn).
Pavel Durov, who's been dubbed "Russia's Mark Zuckerberg", founded VKontakte (also known as VK) at the age of 22. It's currently Russia's largest social networking platform.
Durov left his homeland after refusing to cooperate with the Russian secret service when it sought access to the encrypted data of VK users. He acquired French citizenship in 2021 but has been residing in Dubai since 2017.
Today, he's best known for founding the messaging app Telegram, which boasts over 700 million monthly active users and is a major competitor to Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
At 39 years old, Durov has a net worth of $15.5 billion (£12.3bn), making him the UAE's youngest billionaire.
Toy tycoon Wang Ning holds the title of China's youngest billionaire. The 37-year-old currently has a net worth of around $3.1 billion (£2.5bn).
Wang Ning is the founder and CEO of Pop Mart International. The company specialises in selling small figurines packaged in "blind boxes", meaning the contents remain a mystery until opened. The toys are typically priced at around $8 each (£6).
Pop Mart International went public in December 2020 and Wang Ning, who owns around 50% of the company, saw his wealth surge as a result.
Chinese-born Ivan Zhao, 37, is currently Canada's youngest billionaire. He's the founder and CEO of the productivity software company Notion, which was recently valued at a staggering $10 billion (£7.9bn).
Pitched as a significant competitor to platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, Zhao recently revealed to Forbes that Notion will reach the 100 million user mark this year.
Forbes estimates that he has a 30% ownership stake in the company, giving him a net worth of around $1.5 billion (£1.2bn).
Alongside his older brother Nithin, Nikhil Kamath co-founded the discount brokerage firm Zerodha in 2010.
Zerodha now has a client base of 10 million, and after seriously shaking up the sector it's established itself as one of India's largest brokerage firms. Its venture capital fund, Rainmatter, strategically invests in fintech companies, while its investment management branch, True Beacon, caters to ultra-high-net-worth investors.
With a $3.1 billion (£2.5bn) fortune, Nikhil, 37, is the youngest billionaire in India. He's also the youngest Indian signatory of the Giving Pledge and has vowed to donate half of his wealth to good causes.
Australian self-made billionaire Melanie Perkins made her fortune as the co-founder and CEO of online graphic design tool Canva. At the age of 37, she has an estimated net worth of $4.4 billion (£3.5bn).
Launched in 2013, Canva now boasts a staggering 135 million monthly users. While most opt for its free-to-use software, around 16 million users are paying subscribers, and recent acquisitions suggest the company is actively challenging Adobe's dominance in the design software sector.
Perkins co-founded Canva along with now-husband Cliff Obrecht. They each own an estimated 18% stake in the company and have both pledged to donate more than 80% of their share to support the charitable work of the Canva Foundation.
With a net worth of $1.4 billion (£1.1bn), Rihanna is Barbados's youngest – and only – billionaire. The 36-year-old first gained fame via her music career, but it's her business ventures that have catapulted her to billionaire status.
Rihanna launched her wildly successful cosmetics line, Fenty Beauty, in 2017. Co-owned by luxury French retailer LVMH, the brand is valued at a cool $2.8 billion (£2.2bn).
In addition, she owns a 30% stake in her lingerie line, Savage x Fenty, which achieved a valuation of $1 billion (£792m) in 2021.
Russia's youngest billionaire, 36-year-old Said Gutseriev, was given stakes in the retail and financial businesses of Safmar Group by his oligarch father, Mikhail Gutseriev. Today, he's estimated to have a fortune of around $1.2 billion (£950m).
Born in Russia but educated in the UK, Gutseriev holds both Russian and United Kingdom citizenship status. He currently lives in London, where he oversees Larnabel Ventures, the venture capital firm he founded. He was also one of the initial investors in the cryptocurrency exchange Currency.com.
His 2016 wedding is rumoured to have cost up to $1 billion (£792m) and featured Performances from J Lo, Sting, and Enrique Iglesias. In 2022, the UK government imposed sanctions on Gutseriev over his alleged ties to the Putin regime.
Japan's youngest billionaire is the self-made Shunsaku Sagami, the founder and CEO of M&A Research Institute, a Tokyo-based mergers and acquisitions advisory firm launched in 2018.
As Japan's population ages, many businesses with ageing owners and no successors have been forced to close. M&A uses AI to assist small and medium-sized businesses that are actively seeking acquisition, matching them with a buyer. It quickly disrupted the market with its unique fee structure, charging clients on the successful completion of a deal rather than upfront.
The company has been going from strength to strength, and Sagami achieved billionaire status in 2023. Today, he has an estimated net worth of around $1.2 billion (£950m).
Mark Mateschitz is the only child of the late Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, who co-founded energy drink firm Red Bull in 1987. When his father died in 2022, Mark Mateschitz inherited his 49% stake in Red Bull.
The drinks firm is a marketing powerhouse, selling 12.1 billion cans worldwide in 2023. Red Bull also owns or sponsors a number of football clubs worldwide, not to mention its successful Formula 1 team.
Before his father's death, Mark was the firm's Head of Organics but has since stepped down to concentrate on his shareholder duties. Today, the 32-year-old has a staggering net worth of $39.6 billion (£31.4bn).
At 31 years old, Ben Francis is the UK's youngest billionaire by some margin. Along with his friend Lewis Morgan, the entrepreneurial Francis co-founded sportswear brand GymShark in his parents' garage when he was just 19. At the time he was still in college and delivering pizzas to pay the bills.
Today, GymShark is valued at $1.45 billion (£1.2bn), and Francis, who owns a 70% stake in the business, has a net worth of $1.3 billion (£1bn). However, the young billionaire appears to have his feet firmly grounded, recently claiming in an interview on The SuperPower Podcast that his wealth is "all on paper" and "none of it is real".
Tech whizz-kid Palmer Luckey built his first successful virtual reality headset at the tender age of 16. He founded the virtual reality company Oculus VR in 2012, selling it to Facebook for $2 billion (£1.6bn) in cash and stock just two years later.
Since then, the young entrepreneur has launched the defence start-up Anduril, which was valued at $8.5 billion (£6.7bn) in December 2022. In December last year, the company unveiled a jet-powered drone designed to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft.
Today, at the age of 31, Luckey boasts an estimated net worth of $2.3 billion (£1.8bn)
Norwegian heiress Alexandra Andresen and her older sister, Katharina, each inherited 42% of the family-owned investment company, Ferd. The firm, overseen by their father Johan, invests in Norwegian companies, manages several funds, and boasts an extensive real estate portfolio.
Now 27, Alexandra became the world's youngest billionaire in 2016 when she was just 19. She's a keen equestrian and a three-time junior Norwegian champion in dressage riding.
Thanks to her stake in the family business, her net worth today is an impressive $1.6 billion (£1.3bn).
Zahan Mistry, 25, is the son of the late Cyrus Mistry (pictured), the former chairman of Tata Sons. It's the holding company of India's mammoth Tata conglomerate, which operates across industries including autos, finance, and telecommunications.
When his father died in a car accident in 2022, Zahan, along with his 27-year-old brother Firoz Mistry, inherited a portion of their family's 18.4% stake in Tata Sons.
Zahan now sits on the board of the Mumbai construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which his uncle, Shapoor Mistry chairs. While he lives in India, he makes our list courtesy of his Irish citizenship and boasts a fortune in the region of $4.6 billion (£3.6bn).
Rémi Dassault, 23, inherited a significant fortune after his father, the French politician Olivier Dassault (pictured), died in a helicopter accident in 2021. Olivier was an heir to the Dassault aerospace and software empire. Founded by his grandfather, it started out manufacturing propellers during World War I.
Today, the Dassault family also owns Le Figaro, the oldest daily national newspaper in France.
Outside of his $2.4 billion (£1.9bn) fortune, little is known about Rémi Dassault and he appears to shun the limelight.
With a fortune of $3.2 billion (£2.5bn), 21-year-old Kevin David Lehmann is Germany's youngest billionaire by far.
He owns 50% of the leading German retail chain, dm (drogerie markt), which today boasts more than 3,700 outlets. The company was launched in 1973 by Goetz Werner. The following year, Lehmann's father Guenther began investing in it.
Guenther transferred ownership of his 50% dm stake to Kevin in 2017. However, neither Kevin or his father have taken active roles in dm, and little is known about their private lives.
At the tender age of 20, Kim Jung-youn is the youngest billionaire in South Korea. Both she and her older sister, 22-year-old Jung-min, own 18% of NXC, making them the largest shareholders in the online gaming company Nexon.
The sisters, who are each worth $1.4 billion (£1.1bn), inherited their stakes from their father, Kim Jung-ju (pictured), who founded Nexon in 1994. He died in February 2022, aged 54.
The two sisters have not been involved in Nexon's operations to date, and, as with many of the youngest billionaires on our list, little is known about them.
Clemente Del Vecchio is one of six children of Leonardo Del Vecchio (pictured), the former chairman of EssilorLuxottica, who died in 2022. On his father's death, Clemente, along with his six siblings and stepmother, inherited a 12.5% stake in his father's holding company, Delfin. At the age of just 18, he instantly became Italy's and the world's youngest billionaire.
Delfin's main asset is a sizable stake in EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyeglass firm which counts Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Sunglass Hut among its notable brands. Delfin also owns shares in insurer Generali, banks Mediobanca and UniCredit, and real estate developer Covivio.
Today, despite his substantial estimated fortune of $4.5 billion (£3.6bn), the 20-year-old is reportedly focusing on his studies.
Livia Voigt is just two months younger than Italy's Clemente Del Vecchio, and is officially the youngest billionaire in the world. The 19-year-old Brazilian is one of the largest individual shareholders of WEG, the manufacturing behemoth that produces electrical motors, turbines and generators.
The company was co-founded by her grandfather, Werner Ricardo Voigt, and generated $6 billion in revenue in 2022 alone. Today it's valued at around $31 billion (£24.6bn)
Livia, who's worth around $1.1 billion (£870m), is prioritising her education and is currently studying psychology at university.
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