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15 Jun, 2016

The way Australian billionaires earn their wealth – Sydney Morning Herald

It turns out Australia has a disproportionate share of the world’s billionaires. We have about 0.33 per cent of the global population but account for 1.8 per cent of all billionaires, the research shows. And its finance and property – not mining – that has created more Australian billionaires than any other industry. The Peterson Institute paper says 31 per cent of all Australian US dollar billionaires in 2014 made their fortunes primarily in the finance and property sectors. That’s more than three times the proportion in Europe (10 per cent) and well above the US (27 per cent). The advanced country average for the proportion of billionaires who made their fortuned in finance and property was 20 per cent.

Some economists think the world’s billionaires will become increasingly clustered in large markets over time. Such a pattern is evident in Australia where the BRW rich list shows 33 of our 53 billionaires are based in either Sydney (17) or Melbourne (16).

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