1,180 Billionaires Worldwide! How Many Positively Affect a Billion People?

The act of giving is the soul of living.” -Loreen Arbus

According to Forbes there are 1,810 billionaires in the world, with an aggregated net worth of $6.5 trillion.

Here’s the top 10:
1. Bill Gates – $75 billion
2. Amancio Ortega – $67 billion
3. Warren Buffett – $60.8 billion
4. Carlos Slim Helu – $50 billion
5. Jeff Bezos – $45.2 billion
6. Mark Zuckerberg – $44.6 billion
7. Larry Ellison – $43.6 billion
8. Michael Bloomberg – $40 billion
9. Charles Koch – $39.6 billion
10. David Koch – $39.6 billion

Some of the companies behind these people influence billions of people through different services and products.

But who has given back the most to the world, by donating his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes?

Speaking in numbers, the biggest philanthropists are:

Warren Buffett – $30.7 billion (Healthcare, extreme poverty, education, access to information technology)
Bill Gates – $29.0 billion (Healthcare, education, AIDS-prevention, sanitation)
Li Ka-shing – $10 billion (Education, healthcare)
Chuck Feeney – $6.2 billion (Healthcare, youth, ageing, poverty, human rights)
George Soros – $6 billion (Health care, anti-Fascist publications, human rights, economic, legal, and social reform)
Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal – $3.5 billion (Foster cultural understanding, develop communities, empower women, enable youth, provide vital disaster relief and create a more tolerant and accepting world)
Azim Premji – $2.3 billion (Education, healthcare)
Howard Hughes – $1.56 billion (Healthcare)

Last night my son asked me who is the richest person in the world and I went over this list with him, and it reminded me of a video by Jason Silva talking about the new definition of a Billionaire.

So what is the new definition of a Billionaire? In short it is someone who positively affects the lives of a billion people!

I am confident, that the video below will change your perspective on the definition of a Billionaire.

It can be anything from music, books, new causes, new ventures, all the way to scientific breakthroughs…

I am sure we can all name someone, who has through the known history positively influenced big masses with their message and being, very often without any financial backing.

Today we are more connected than ever before thanks to technology, meaning your message has the potential to go viral in minutes and reach millions, and potentially billions of people. What is your message? Who has influenced you the most? Who have you influenced the most?