Self-made billionaires outnumber those with inherited wealth in the world

Self-made billionaires have increased in the last few years, while those billionaires born out of inherited wealth have reduced in the US, Europe and other advanced economies.

The self-made wealth accounted for nearly 70% of billionaire wealth in 2014, according to a recent report by Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Source: Report by Caroline Freund and Sarah Oliver from the Peterson Institute for International Economics 

The self-made billionaires include a maximum of self-made billionaire company founders, followed by those in the financial sector and those who are owners and executives in 2014. This is due to the rapid growth in the number of self-made billionaires in emerging markets and the US.

While in Europe inheritances still account for more than 50% of all billionaires fortunes, in the US there has been a rapid rise in the number of self-made billionaires. This is due to the growth of the financial sector, which accounts for 40% of the growth of billionaire population, said the report.

However, billionaires with political connections and resource related have also increased in 2014 in comparison to 2001 and 1996.

The report takes into considerations data from Forbes World's Billionaires list.