{
  "meta": {
    "currency": "USD",
    "units": "billions",
    "source": "Forbes annual 'World's Billionaires' lists. 2024/2025/2026 figures are cleanly-sourced annual snapshots; 2020/2022 are approximate annual-list values (verify against the cited lists). Demo data — edit freely.",
    "notes": "net_worth values are in BILLIONS of USD, keyed by Forbes list year (a March snapshot). Years are sparse on purpose: a cell is omitted rather than guessed. People ranked beyond ~#14 were added with their 2026 figure only — historical years for them couldn't be cleanly sourced in this environment, so the model holds them flat (0% growth) rather than inventing a rate.",
    "expansion_note": "People #15+ sourced from 2026-list coverage: stylerave/MSN (Waltons, Dell), Independent.ng & beinsure (Bettencourt Meyers, Kochs), ecns.cn (Zhang Yiming, Zhong Shanshan), Mexico News Daily (Slim, Larrea), CBS/Business Standard (Adani 2024), northernvirginiamag (Mars), advisory.com/beckers (Frist), casino.org (Adelson), Moscow Times/Barents Observer (Mordashov). Mid-ranks #~22-50 are largely behind 403-blocked Forbes tables, so coverage is best-effort, not a gapless top-50.",
    "approx_note": "Entries flagged \"approx\": true carry best-available public 2026 net-worth figures (ballpark, ±~15%) for well-known top-50 billionaires whose exact annual-list number couldn't be cleanly sourced here. They round the pool out toward 50 and barely affect the projection (all are dwarfed by the leaders). Replace with exact Forbes figures when you can.",
    "sources": [
      { "year": 2020, "quality": "approximate", "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/07/business/forbes-billionaire-list-2020/index.html", "note": "Forbes 34th annual list (snapshot 18 Mar 2020). Bezos/Gates/Arnault/Buffett/Ellison/Ortega/Zuckerberg confirmed; Musk $24.6B lightly sourced." },
      { "year": 2022, "quality": "approximate", "url": "https://www.fox9.com/news/forbes-billionaires-2022-worlds-richest-people", "note": "Forbes 36th annual list (snapshot 11 Mar 2022). Top 10 confirmed via Fox9/CNBC; Zuckerberg $67.3B is the established pre-crash annual figure but lightly sourced." },
      { "year": 2024, "quality": "cited", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/forbes-list-of-the-worlds-billionaires-2024-more-than-ever-before-wealthier-arnault-elon-musk-jeff-bezos/", "note": "Forbes 38th annual list (snapshot 8 Mar 2024), via CBS News. Page/Brin/Bloomberg/Huang/Ortega 2024 omitted (could not be cleanly separated from real-time tracker noise)." },
      { "year": 2025, "quality": "cited", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2025/04/01/nx-s1-5345950/forbes-billionaires-list", "note": "Forbes 39th annual list, published 1 Apr 2025 (snapshot 7 Mar 2025). NPR full top-10 with figures." },
      { "year": 2026, "quality": "cited", "url": "https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260310629058/en/Forbes-40th-Annual-Worlds-Billionaires-List", "note": "Forbes 40th annual list, official press release (valued 10 Mar 2026). Musk $839B, Bezos $224B, Zuckerberg $222B confirmed; full top-10 cross-checked via Scripps News and The Hill." }
    ]
  },
  "benchmarks": [
    {
      "id": "hunger",
      "label": "end world hunger for a year",
      "annual_cost_usd": 93000000000,
      "source": "UN World Food Programme, 2026 Global Outlook — ending hunger by 2030 ~ $93B/yr",
      "url": "https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/11/1166397"
    },
    {
      "id": "poverty",
      "label": "end extreme poverty for a year",
      "annual_cost_usd": 318000000000,
      "source": "Berkeley News / phys.org, Feb 2026 — ~$318B/yr, ~0.3% of global GDP",
      "url": "https://news.berkeley.edu/2026/02/03/a-bold-calculation-what-would-it-cost-to-end-extreme-poverty-worldwide/"
    }
  ],
  "population": {
    "units": "people",
    "source": "UN World Population Prospects / Worldometer (approximate, mid-year)",
    "url": "https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/",
    "annual_growth_rate": 0.0088,
    "by_year": {
      "2020": 7795000000,
      "2022": 7951000000,
      "2024": 8092000000,
      "2025": 8161000000,
      "2026": 8231000000
    }
  },
  "inequality": {
    "bottom_50_avg_wealth_usd": 4100,
    "bottom_50_growth_rate": 0.03,
    "top_individuals_growth_rate": 0.075,
    "source": "World Inequality Report 2022 (wir2022.wid.world) + Oxfam 'Takers Not Makers' (2024/2026).",
    "url": "https://wir2022.wid.world/executive-summary/",
    "note": "WIR2022: the global bottom 50% own just ~2% of all wealth — about €2,900 PPP (~$4,100) per adult — and that wealth has grown ~3%/yr (real) since 1995, while the richest individuals' fortunes grew 6–9%/yr over the same period and billionaires' share of world wealth tripled (1%→3%+). Oxfam: billionaire wealth +81% since 2020; of $42T of new wealth since 2020 the top 1% captured 63%. The ~$4,100 level is PPP and the 3% is a long-run real rate, so comparing it against this pool's recent nominal growth is illustrative, not exact — the point is the scale and direction of the gap."
  },
  "people": [
    {
      "name": "Elon Musk",
      "company": "Tesla, SpaceX, xAI",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 24.6, "2022": 219, "2024": 195, "2025": 342, "2026": 839 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Larry Page",
      "company": "Google / Alphabet",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 50.9, "2022": 111, "2025": 144, "2026": 257 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Sergey Brin",
      "company": "Google / Alphabet",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 49.1, "2022": 107, "2025": 138, "2026": 237 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Jeff Bezos",
      "company": "Amazon",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 113, "2022": 171, "2024": 194, "2025": 215, "2026": 224 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Mark Zuckerberg",
      "company": "Meta",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 54.7, "2022": 67.3, "2024": 177, "2025": 216, "2026": 222 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Larry Ellison",
      "company": "Oracle",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 59, "2022": 106, "2024": 141, "2025": 192, "2026": 190 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Bernard Arnault",
      "company": "LVMH",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 76, "2022": 158, "2024": 233, "2025": 178, "2026": 171 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Jensen Huang",
      "company": "Nvidia",
      "net_worth": { "2025": 98.7, "2026": 154 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Warren Buffett",
      "company": "Berkshire Hathaway",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 67.5, "2022": 118, "2024": 133, "2025": 154, "2026": 149 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Amancio Ortega",
      "company": "Inditex / Zara",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 55.1, "2022": 59.6, "2025": 124, "2026": 148 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Steve Ballmer",
      "company": "Microsoft",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 52.7, "2022": 91.4, "2024": 121, "2025": 118, "2026": 130 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Michael Bloomberg",
      "company": "Bloomberg LP",
      "net_worth": { "2022": 82, "2025": 105, "2026": 109.4 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Bill Gates",
      "company": "Microsoft",
      "net_worth": { "2020": 98, "2022": 129, "2024": 128, "2025": 107, "2026": 108 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Mukesh Ambani",
      "company": "Reliance Industries",
      "net_worth": { "2022": 90.7, "2024": 116, "2025": 92.5, "2026": 97.5 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Rob Walton",
      "company": "Walmart",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 146 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Jim Walton",
      "company": "Walmart",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 143 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Michael Dell",
      "company": "Dell Technologies",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 141 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Alice Walton",
      "company": "Walmart",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 134 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Carlos Slim Helú",
      "company": "América Móvil",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 125 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Changpeng Zhao",
      "company": "Binance",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 110 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Françoise Bettencourt Meyers",
      "company": "L'Oréal",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 100 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Julia Koch",
      "company": "Koch Industries",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 81.2 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Charles Koch",
      "company": "Koch Industries",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 73.8 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Zhang Yiming",
      "company": "ByteDance",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 69.3 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Zhong Shanshan",
      "company": "Nongfu Spring",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 68.1 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Germán Larrea Mota Velasco",
      "company": "Grupo México",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 67.1 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Gautam Adani",
      "company": "Adani Group",
      "net_worth": { "2024": 84, "2026": 63.8 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Iris Fontbona",
      "company": "Antofagasta",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 52.6 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Jacqueline Mars",
      "company": "Mars Inc.",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 49.1 }
    },
    {
      "name": "John Mars",
      "company": "Mars Inc.",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 49.1 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Thomas Frist Jr.",
      "company": "HCA Healthcare",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 41.1 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Miriam Adelson",
      "company": "Las Vegas Sands",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 37.5 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Alexey Mordashov",
      "company": "Severstal",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 36.9 }
    },
    {
      "name": "David Thomson",
      "company": "Thomson Reuters",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 66 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Jeff Yass",
      "company": "Susquehanna",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 50 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Colin Huang",
      "company": "Pinduoduo (PDD)",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 48 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Tadashi Yanai",
      "company": "Fast Retailing (Uniqlo)",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 48 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Stephen Schwarzman",
      "company": "Blackstone",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 47 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Giovanni Ferrero",
      "company": "Ferrero",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 44 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Ma Huateng",
      "company": "Tencent",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 44 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Gianluigi Aponte",
      "company": "MSC",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 44 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Rafaela Aponte-Diamant",
      "company": "MSC",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 44 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Dieter Schwarz",
      "company": "Schwarz Group (Lidl)",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 43 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Masayoshi Son",
      "company": "SoftBank",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 40 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Li Ka-shing",
      "company": "CK Hutchison",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 40 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Klaus-Michael Kühne",
      "company": "Kuehne + Nagel",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 40 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Savitri Jindal",
      "company": "OP Jindal Group",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 38 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "MacKenzie Scott",
      "company": "Amazon",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 38 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Phil Knight",
      "company": "Nike",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 36 },
      "approx": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Shiv Nadar",
      "company": "HCL Technologies",
      "net_worth": { "2026": 35 },
      "approx": true
    }
  ]
}