World’s richest

For the third year running, the world has a new ‘richest man’, with Mexican Carlos Slim taking over from Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, the top men for the past couple of years.

Carlos Slim Helu has made his money in telecom holdings, his personal fortune increasing by a staggering 18.5 billion dollars in the past twelve months.

Here is the current list of the top twenty richest people in the world:

1. Carlos Slim Helu & family – Mexico – 53.5 billion dollars
2. William Gates III – United States – 53.0 billion dollars
3. Warren Buffett – United States – 47.0 billion dollars
4. Mukesh Ambani – India – 29.0 billion dollars
5. Lakshmi Mittal – India – 28.7 billion dollars
6. Lawrence Ellison – United States – 28.0 billion dollars
7. Bernard Arnault – France – 27.5 billion dollars
8. Eike Batista – Brazil – 27 billion dollars
9. Amancio Ortega – Spain – 25.0 billion dollars
10. Karl Albrecht – Germany – 23.5 billion dollars
11. Ingvar Kamprad & family – Sweden – 23.0 billion dollars
12. Christy Walton & family – United States – 22.5 billion dollars
13. Stefan Persson – Sweden – 22.4 billion dollars
14. Li Ka-shing – Hong Kong – 21.0 billion dollars
15. Jim Walton – United States – 20.7 billion dollars
16. Alice Walton – United States – 20.6 billion dollars
17. Liliane Bettencourt – France – 20.0 billion dollars
18. S. Robson Walton – United States – 19.8 billion dollars
19. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud – Saudi Arabia – 19.4 billion dollars
20. David Thomson & family – Canada – 19.0 billion dollars