The world’s billionaires are worth £11.2 trillion. here’s how you could use their money to make the world a better place

WEALTH

A record 2,781 people now have fortunes exceeding $1 billion (£800 million), an increase of 141 in 2023.

Together, this uber-rich cohort – which includes Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Taylor Swift – are worth a staggering $14.2 trillion (£11.3tn), according to Forbes.

They say money can’t buy you happiness – but here are some of the things that this combined wealth could buy.

End world hunger 40 times

According to the United Nations World Food Program, an annual investment of around $40bn (£31.5bn) is needed to achieve zero hunger by 2030 – a total investment of £280bn.

Based on this, we could use the combined wealth of the globe’s billionaires to end world hunger... 40 times over.

Eradicate malaria 122 times

More 400,000 die from malaria every year. Eradicating the disease by 2040 would cost between $90bn (£71bn) and $120bn (£94bn), according to the Gates Foundation. Even at the higher end of this spectrum, billionaire money could wipe out malaria 122 times over.

Build 310 million homes

Building your typical three-bedroom home can cost between £242,250 and £363,375, analysis from Urbanist Architecture suggests. With the global trillionaire wealth, we could build at least 310.9 million of them.

Buy 2.8 trillion copies of The Big Issue

Since The Big Issue launched in 1991, vendors have sold more than 220 million copies of the magazine.

Global trillionaire wealth could purchase a further 2.8 trillion at the current cover price of £4. If you stacked all these magazines up, they’d stretch for 5.7 million miles.

Buy 28 million tickets to Mars

Billionaire Elon Musk has estimated that a ticket to Mars on a SpaceX flight would cost between $100,000 (£79,470) and $500,000 (£397,380).

Global billionaire wealth could purchase at least 28.4 million tickets to Mars – more than enough to p