196 self-made billionaires drove wealth to record $15.8 trillion, up 13pc over 12 months

December 5, 2025

Women's average wealth is growing twice as fast as men's, the result of both a wealth transfer as well as entrepreneurialism, according to a new study on global billionaire wealth. Image credit: Shutterstock

By Luxury Roundtable Intelligence

A new generation of billionaires is emerging that includes entrepreneurs innovating at scale across sectors and markets, even as the great wealth transfer intensifies with heirs inheriting more than ever before.

The world’s largest wealth manager confirms the second-highest number of self-made individuals became billionaires this year in the entire history of its famed study analyzing the wealthiest cohort worldwide.

Bucking the hype around artificial intelligence (AI), these billionaires are creating businesses not just in technology but also across a broad spectrum of traditional sectors, mainly in the United States and China, per the newly released Billionaire Ambitions 2025 report from UBS.

“These individuals are joining the spouses and children of existing billionaires who became billionaires themselves during the year, collectively inheriting more wealth than ever before in our reporting,” said Benjamin Cavalli, head of strategic clients and global connectivity at UBS Global Wealth Management and co-head for EMEA OneUBS, in the report.

“These heirs are proof of a multi-year wealth transfer that’s intensifying,” he said.

A fresh wave of wealth creators and inheritors is rising, per the report, bringing on a new era that will transform how families connect, collaborate and unlock opportunities across borders.

Interestingly, these new billionaires include both entrepreneurs successfully building businesses amid today’s environment of uncertainty, and heirs participating in an accelerating multi-year wealth transfer, according to the Swiss bank.

UBS said 87 billionaire clients took part in the survey, offering insights that shaped the report’s findings.

“With over one-third of them telling us that they have already relocated more than once and almost a further tenth considering doing so, this year’s report shows how families are becoming increasingly extended and international,” Mr. Cavalli said.

“This means they now face an unprecedented set of challenges that span continents, generations and cultures,” he pointed out.

Per the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report 2025’s summary:

A fresh wave of billionaires is emerging, lifted by business innovation and increasing inheritance.

In 2025, 196 self-made billionaires drove wealth to a record $15.8 trillion, up 13 percent in 12 months and marking the second-highest annual increase after 2021.

Confirming the great wealth transfer’s acceleration, multi-generational billionaires inherited the largest amount in the history of our report.

In 2025, 91 people became billionaires through inheritance, coming into $297.8 billion between them, up by more than a third from $218.9 billion in 2024.

According to our calculations, at least $5.9 trillion will be inherited by billionaire children over the next 15 years.

While the wealth transfer looks likely to be focused on a small number of markets, high levels of migration could change the picture.

Most wealth transfer will occur in the U.S. and select markets, but 36 percent of surveyed billionaires say they’ve relocated at least once, while a further 9 percent are considering it.

Billionaires hope their children will succeed independently despite the influence of inheritance.

More than eight in ten (82 percent) of the billionaires with children surveyed for our report want their children to follow their own path, saying that they aspire to see them develop the skills and values to succeed independently, rather than relying solely on inherited wealth.

Please click or tap here to download the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report 2025.

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