New study finds that 70% of the UK’s billionaires are self-made

Of the 81 billionaires living in the UK, 57 are self-made, while the remaining 24 inherited their wealth.
The proportion of self-made billionaires in the UK is 70%, a 6% relative increase compared to the global share.
There are only eight female billionaires in the UK, a 23% relative decrease compared to the worldwide percentage.

A new study has found that 70% of the billionaires living in the United Kingdom are self-made, a 6% relative increase compared to the global share.

Experts from Tax Accountant analysed Forbes’ list of billionaires worldwide, segmenting it by billionaires living in the UK and calculating the proportion of self-made billionaires and the proportion of female and male billionaires. The values were then compared to global data.

The world went from having 2,095 billionaires in 2020 to 2,781 in 2024. Out of those, 81 chose the UK as their home country, with 44% being UK citizens. While 75% of the United Kingdom’s billionaires live in London, the probability of ever meeting one by chance is extremely low – just 0.0006%.

When analysing the list, the experts found the source of the magnates’ fortune, with 57 of the ultra-rich in the United Kingdom being self-made billionaires (they built a company or established a fortune on their own instead of inheriting all or part of it). This means that 70% of the billionaires living in the UK have created their own wealth.

UK billionaires’ source of fortune

Source of fortune	Number of billionaires	Percentage (rounded value)
Self-made	57	70%
Inheritance	24	29%

When looking at the total number of billionaires in the world, the proportion of self-made magnates dropped to 66%, 4 percentage points lower than in the UK.

Experts calculated that the proportion of self-made billionaires in the UK reflects a 6% relative increase compared to the global average.

World‘s billionaires’ source of fortune

Source of fortune	Number of billionaires	Percentage (rounded value)
Self-made	1847	66%
Inheritance	934	33%

Examining the proportion of female and male billionaires in the UK, the experts found that there are only eight female billionaires living in the UK (10%), four of them self-made, while 73 are male billionaires (90%), 53 of them self-made.

UK female and male billionaires’ source of fortune

Gender	Number of billionaires	Source of fortune
Gender	Number of billionaires	Self-made	Inheritance
Female	8 (10%)	4 (50%)	4 (50%)
Male	73 (90%)	53 (72%)	20 (18%)

Looking at the worldwide proportion of female and male billionaires, experts still found a lack of balance, though the global numbers are a bit better than the UK’s. There are currently 369 female billionaires (13%) in the world, 100 of them self-made, while 2,412 are male (87%), 1,747 of them self-made.

This means the proportion of female billionaires in the UK is 3 percentage points lower than the global proportion, a 23% relative decrease compared to the worldwide percentage.

World’s female and male billionaires’ source of fortune

Gender	Number of billionaires	Source of fortune
Gender	Number of billionaires	Self-made	Inheritance
Female	369 (13%)	100 (27%)	269 (73%)
Male	2,412 (87%)	1,747 (72%)	665 (28%)

Aatif Malik, Director of Tax Accountant, commented:

“When looking at the data, we found that only 870 of 2,781 billionaires worldwide are under 60 years old, which means that 69% of the world’s magnates belong to older generations. In the past, women were expected to stay at home, even though access to education was available, so even when they did go to university, their chances of employment or pursuing an entrepreneurial career were much lower than they are now. This could explain both the higher proportion of male billionaires overall and the higher global proportion of self-made male billionaires compared to self-made female billionaires.”

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Forbes’ real-time billionaires rankings

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New study finds that 70% of the UK’s billionaires are self-made