Microsoft founder Bill Gates has displaced Mexico's Carlos Slim as the world's richest man as his net worth rose to US$76 billion from US$67 billion a year ago.
Meanwhile, America Movil's founder, Carlos Slim saw his wealth fell slightly to US$72 billion as shares in his telecoms companies fell in the face of tighter regulatory conditions in Mexico.
The rankings are compiled by Forbes, which listed a global total of 1,645 billionaires.
To make it into the top 20 list now needs a personal fortune of at least US$31 billion -- a sharp increase on the US$21 billion it would have taken in 2013. Much of the rise is thanks to surging stock markets and profit rich companies returning more money to shareholders.
The largest net gainer in wealth though was Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who saw his personal fortune more than double to US$28.5 billion as Facebook's shares recovered from their post-IPO decline.
WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton entered the list for the first time at places 202 and 551 respectively, due to Facebook's US$19 billion purchase of their company.
While tech firms dominated the list in the USA, in the UK, old money topped the rankings, as the Duke of Westminster's land assets were worth US$13 billion.
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