Here are the billionaires who give away the most money, according to Forbes (2024)

FAQs

How many billionaires are there in the US according to Forbes? ›

The top 20 on the list gained the most, adding $700 billion to their combined worth since 2023. And the U.S. has a record 813 billionaires — the most of any country.

Jamsetji Tata named world's most charitable, beats Bill Gates. The title of the world's most generous individual goes to an Indian who outshines renowned figures like Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Azim Premji, and Shiv Nadar.

95% of households making more than $10 million a year donate on average 8.6% of their income. However, middle class households making between $50,000 and $75,000 donate on average 7.6% of their income to charity, and the poorest one-fifth of Americans donate 4.3% of their income to charitable causes.

The Giving Pledge is a moral commitment – not a legally binding one.

Clemente Del Vecchio

Clemente was at one time the world's youngest billionaire (at the age of 18), but he has since aged out of that title, which is now held by Livia Voigt.

1. The Walton Family: $267 Billion, Retail.

How rich is Taylor Swift? ›

And now, as of February 2024? Bloomberg reported that Taylor's net worth is officially $1.1 billion. Something Forbes went ahead and clarified in April, noting that she's the "first musician to do it based solely on songwriting and performing." So yeah: TAYLOR IS A BILLIONAIRE!

Who is the richest man in the world? As of June 1, 2024, the richest person in the world is Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. He's worth $210 billion. He moved into the number one spot in late May 2024, overtaking Bernard Arnault of France.

China has 814 billionaires, the most in the world, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2024. Despite holding on to the top spot, China lost 155 billionaires year-over-year, while the U.S. gained 109. The gap between the two countries has now reduced to just 14 billionaires.

Four newcomers join billionaires including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and MacKenzie Scott in the ranks of the nation's most generous donors.

According to a ranking compiled by the EdelGive Foundation and Hurun Report, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group, has emerged as the world's most prominent philanthropist over the last century.

Take Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, who has been among the planet's most generous philanthropists in recent years. As of the end of 2022, Scott had given away over $14 billion across roughly 1,600 causes and organizations since her divorce with Bezos in 2019.

These giving levels vary by particular faith. Mormons are the most generous Americans, both by participation level and by size of gifts.

Which social class donates the most? ›

Measured by how much they share out of what they have available, the most generous Americans are not generally those in high-income, urban, liberal states like California or Massachusetts. Rather, people living in states that are more rural, conservative, religious, and moderate in income are our most generous givers.

Wealthy donors receive the biggest tax breaks from philanthropic giving. Millions of U.S. donors give directly to local charities without any reduction in their taxes. Less than ten percent of households use the charitable deduction. Wealthy donors, in turn, receive most of the taxpayer subsidies for charitable giving.

Andrew Carnegie may be the most influential philanthropist in American history. The scale of his giving is almost without peer: adjusted for inflation, his donations exceed those of virtually everyone else in the nation's history.

As of 2022, a majority of the world's billionaires had earned their wealth themselves. Nearly 2,000 of the total 3,194 billionaires worldwide that year had earned their fortune this way. Meanwhile, 317 billionaires had inherited their wealth.