China Becomes First Country With 1,000 Billionaires: Report On 3/4/21 at 12:06 PM EST China has outstripped the U.S. and become the first country with more than 1,000 billionaires, according to a new rich list out of Shanghai. However, four of the world's five richest people live in the U.S. Despite a debilitating global pandemic, the world added 412 billionaires—an average of eight a week—last year, bringing the total number to 3,228, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2021 published on Tuesday. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, tops the list for the first time with a value of $197 billion. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who was last year's richest person, is a close second at $189 billion.