The US is home to more billionaires than China, Germany and Russia combined

Published Thu, May 9 20191:05 PM EDT

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There are 2,604 billionaires in the world, according to the Wealth-X Billionaire Census 2019, and over a quarter of these ultra-high-net-worth individuals reside in the U.S. "North America was the only region to record an increase in billionaire population," the report notes.

While the worldwide billionaire population was down 5.4% in 2018, it grew by almost 4% in the U.S., from 680 to 705 individuals, the report found. China, the country with the second-highest number of billionaires, has 285.

Though total billionaire wealth in the U.S. fell by around 5%, it still exceeded that of the next eight wealthiest countries combined, Wealth X found: The billionaires of China, Germany, Russia, the U.K., Switzerland, Hong Kong, India and Saudi Arabia have a combined total of $2.9 trillion, while U.S. billionaires have over $3 trillion.

"Against a backdrop of heightened market volatility, global trade tensions and a slowdown in economic growth, the combined wealth of the world's billionaires dropped by 7% to $8.6 trillion," the report states, adding that American billionaires fared better than others around the world thanks to tax cuts and "robust corporate earnings."

These are the 10 countries with the largest populations of billionaires.