Forbes rich list: the world's wealthiest people

Mexican mobile phone titan Carlos Slim, criticised as a ruthless monopolist, is the world's richest man with $53.5bn (£35.7bn), according to the Forbes rich list. Bolstered by a surge in the share price of his America Movil empire, Slim's wealth edged ahead of the $53bn fortune amassed by the Microsoft boss Bill Gates, making the portly cigar-smoking 70-year-old the first non-American to hold the top spot since 1994
Photograph: Marcelo Salinas/AP

Bill Gates, co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is now ranked second in the world with a net worth of $53bn. Gates was knocked off the top spot for the second time since 1995 despite gaining $13bn from a year ago as Microsoft shares advanced 50% over the past year
Photograph: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images

In third place was the legendary Nebraska-based stockpicker Warren Buffett with $47bn, completing a triumvirate that has occupied the top three positions for five successive years
Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, became the fourth-richest person on the planet with $29bn, as his textiles-to-petrol Reliance Industries empire prospered. Pakistan also produced its first billionaire, banking magnate Mian Muhammad Mansha
Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

Mittal Steel chief executive Lakshmi Mittal, who hails from India but lives in the UK, has been named as the fifth richest person with $28.7bn
Photograph: Michel Euler/AP

Bernard Arnault, chairman of luxury group LVMH, is the richest European with a personal fortune of $27.5bn, putting him in seventh place
Photograph: Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images

The number of Chinese billionaires leapt by 27 to 64. Among those enjoying an upsurge in fortunes was Robin Li, founder of the Chinese internet search engine Baidu, whose wealth reached $3.5bn as his company prospered on Google's abrupt withdrawal from China, due to censorship concerns
Photograph: PR

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, is the youngest billionaire, aged 25. In 2008 he made history as the youngest self-made billionaire to grace the Forbes list but was missing from last year's list after the market crash. Now the Harvard dropout is back, tied at number 212 with a $4bn fortune, more than double the $1.5bn that landed him on the list in 2008
Photograph: Eric Risberg/Associated Press

The number of billionaires from Russia almost doubled from 32 to 62. Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov, a shareholder of Arsenal, often touted as a future buyer of the football club, enjoyed a lucrative year at his metals conglomerate with his net worth surging from $1.7bn to $7.2bn
Photograph: AP

Britain's top entrant into the global rich list, the Duke of Westminster, could only muster 45th position as his vast landownings gave him a net worth of $12bn
Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

In British terms, little changed among the ranks of the super-rich. Behind the Duke of Westminster came property developers David and Simon Reuben and the Top Shop boss Sir Philip Green. The Reubens are worth £5bn, while Green has a fortune of £4.5bn
Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has to share the 212th place with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. Ecclestone has a fortune of $4bn
Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP

Virgin supremo Sir Richard Branson is also worth $4bn. The ranking of more than 900 of the world's richest people includes 29 Britons and a total of 97 new billionaires from across the globe
Photograph: Dan Chung