The previous GeoCurrents post showed that most of the world’s wealthiest persons live in just a few areas, with primary concentrations in the United States, west-central Europe, and maritime East Asia, and secondary concentrations in Moscow, Dubai, and “Greater Mumbai” (see the map posted below). The post concluded by asking whether the same patterns would be found at the next tier of wealth. To provide an answer, I mapped the primary residences of those with assets valued between $10 and $20 billion, using the same Forbes list of “the world’s real-time billionaires.” Because this category is so large, I had to cover it in two maps, one showing fortunes between $15 and $20 billion and the other between $10 and $15. These maps are also posted below.
As can be seen by comparing the original map of fortunes over $20 billion and these new maps, slightly different spatial patterns emerge in these slightly lower levels of the global wealth hierarchy. To be sure, a large majority of those with fortunes between $10 and $20 billion still live in the three primary regions originally identified: the United States, west-central Europe, and maritime East Asia. Relatively few, however, reside in what I called the “secondary centers,” with only four in Moscow, two in Dubai, and two in Mumbai.
More intriguing to my mind is the lower degree of dispersion found within the three primary regions at this level of wealth. Let us begin with the United States. In the $15-20 B. category, for example, there are more representatives living in California and the corridor extending from Philadelphia to Boston than in the rest of the country put together. In $10-15 B. category, distinct concentrations can be seen in a few metro areas: the San Francisco Bay Area, Houston, southeastern Florida, and, especially, New York City and its inner suburbs. Intriguingly, the Seattle area, which figures prominently on the map of fortunes above $20 B., has no representatives in these lower categories, although nearby Vancouver and Victoria in Canada have one each.
Somewhat similar patterns are found in the other two global regions of vast personal fortunes. “Maritime East Asia” is reduced in size on the maps showing the $10-$20 B. range, with no representatives in Japan and only four in South Korea (all of whom live in Seoul). On the $15-$20 B. map, one sees a clear concentration in coastal southern China, a region extending from the lower Yangtze region to the Hong Kong/Shenzhen area. On the $10-$15 B. map, this region essentially breaks down into two clumps, one at its northern extremity and the other at its southern. In west-central Europe, two pronounced concentrations are seen on the $10-$15 B. map, one in southwestern England, clearly centered on London, and the other in Switzerland.
Giver these intriguing differences in residential patterns by wealth level among the world’s richest people, I have decided to see what emerges at the next tier of vast fortunes. Stay tuned ….