The combined net worth of the 100 richest Arabs in the world is currently estimated at $174.37 billion. That is an increase by $8.17 billion compared to 2014, revealed the Forbes Middle East’s newest World’s Richest Arabs list.
Contrary to the popular belief that Arab billionaires make their money through black gold, oil is source of wealth for only four UHNWIs on the list. The majority of Middle East’s richest have a diverse source of wealth. In addition, 16 of them have made their billions through banking and another 10% – through retail and shopping malls.
There are 11 UAE billionaires on this year’s wealthiest Arabs list. Moreover, three of them are in the top 10. The highest ranked of them is Abdulla bin Ahmad Al Ghurair and family with a net worth of $6.4 billion. Just two spots behind is Majid Al Futtaim, whose main source of wealth are real estate and retail industries. As for Al Futtaim’s wealth – it is presently estimated at $6.2 billion. Saif Al Ghurair and family are also part of the top 10 richest Arabs list with a net worth of $3.4 billion.
What is interesting about UAE’s wealthiest is that all of them, with the exception of Shaikh Faisal Bin Sultan Al Qassimi (91) have climbed higher on the world’s richest Arabs ranking over the past one year. According to Forbes, the combined wealth of the 11 UAE super wealthy who have found a place on the 2015 list is $22.7 billion
Top 10 world’s richest Arabs in 2015:
- Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud (Saudi Arabia) – $22.6 billion
- Joseph Safra (Lebanon/Brazil) – $17.3 billion
- Mohammed Al Amoudi (Saudi Arabia) – $10.8 billion
- Abdulla bin Ahmad Al Ghurair & Family (UAE) – $6.4 billion
- Nassef Sawiris (Egypt) – $6.3 billion
- Majid Al Futtaim (UAE) – $6.2 billion
- Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer (Saudi Arabia) – $4.1 billion
- Mohammed Mansour (Egypt) – $4 billion
- Mohammed Al Issa (Saudi Arabia) – $3.5 billion
- Saif Al Ghurair & Family (UAE) – $3.4 billion
The country that is dominating Forbes’ new ranking, however, is Saudi Arabia. The Gulf country has 41 representatives on the list. Also, Saudi Arabia billionaires make up almost half of this year’s top 10. Egypt is second with 14 UHNWIs among 2015 richest Arabs. Lebanon and the UAE come third with 11 representatives on the list each.
When it comes down to combined wealth, Saudi Arabia again leads the way with $65.88 billion. Even though Lebabon has as much representatives on Forbes’ ranking as the United Arab Emirates, their combined net worth is estimated at $33.77 or over $11 billion more compared to that of UAE’s richest. Still, the UAE has the second wealthiest millionaires with a millionaire wealth of $3.52 billion.
