Gates overtaken in list of world’s richest

Of the 97 billionaires making their debut on the Forbes list, 62 are from Asia, while for the first time China is now home to the most billionaires outside of the United States.

“The United States still dominates, but the United States is lagging,” Forbes said. “It is not doing as well as the rest of the world in coming back.”

There are 55 countries represented on the Forbes list with billionaires from Pakistan — clothing exporter Mian Muhammad Mansha — and Finland — manufacturing mogul Antti Herlin — making an appearance for the first time, while Turkey, Russia and India regained billionaire numbers lost last year.

There were 164 billionaires returning to the list in 2010, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is also the world’s youngest with a $4 billion fortune at the age of 25.

The second-youngest self-made billionaire is Japan’s Yoshikazu Tanaka, 33, who made $1.4 billion from social networking firm Gree.

The oldest is 99-year-old Walter Haefner from Switzerland who has $3.3 billion.

The sixth-richest man is Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison with $28 billion.

At No. 7 is the richest man in Europe, Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury goods group LVMH, who has a fortune of $27.5 billion.

“The bling is back,” said Forbes Senior Editor Luisa Kroll of Arnault’s wealth.

The Forbes ranking of the world’s billionaires can be seen at www.forbes.com/billionaires.