The Middle East’s billionaires – with a combined net worth of $354 billion – hold a higher percentage of total wealth than in any other region in the world with Saudi Arabia and the UAE topping the list, said a report.

Forty per cent of the Middle East’s ultra high net worth (UHNW) wealth is being held by the region’s 157 billionaires, compared to 28 per cent in Europe, 22 per cent in North America and 18 per cent in Asia, according to the data from 'Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2013.'

The census compiled by Singapore-based Wealth-X and Swiss bank UBS is the first-ever global study on the billionaire population.

According to the report, the billionaires in Saudi Arabia control more than 70 per cent of the country’s wealth, while their counterparts in the UAE hold 24 per cent. The total wealth of Saudi billionaires ($204 billion) is more than half the combined net worth of their counterparts in the Middle East, it stated.

The kingdom leads the region with the most billionaires (64), and 25 of these individuals are based in the country’s capital, Riyadh, the report added.

The report shows that there are 157 billionaires among the 5,300 UHNW individuals (defined as those with net assets of $30 million and above) in the Middle East. This makes the Middle East the region with the fourth most billionaires – after Europe (766), North America (552) and Asia (508), but ahead of Latin America (111), Africa (42) and Oceania (34).

Middle Eastern billionaires increased their wealth in the last year by $39 billion (12.4 per cent) with five additional billionaires (3.3 per cent).

Headquartered in Singapore, Wealth-X is the definitive source of intelligence on the ultra wealthy with the world’s largest collection of curated research on UHNW individuals, defined as those with net assets of $30 million and above.-TradeArabia News Service