Carlos Slim tops Bill Gates as No.1 richest in world

It is only the second time since 1995 that Gates has lost the crown, the magazine said, estimating Slim's net worth at US$53.5 billion (35.7 billion pound), compared to Gates's US$53 billion fortune, while investor Warren Buffett came in at No. 3 with US$47 billion.

The trio regained US$41.5 billion of the US$68 billion they had lost the previous year, Forbes said.

The number of billionaires around the world has nearly recovered in 2010 after dropping by a third last year during the global financial crisis. There are now 1,011 billionaires, compared with 793 last year and 1,125 in 2008.

The net wealth of those billionaires grew to US$3.6 trillion from US$2.4 trillion last year, but is still down from 2008's US$4.4 trillion, according to the 24th annual Forbes list, which took a snapshot of wealth on February 12 to compile its ranking.

The average billionaire is now worth US$3.5 billion, up US$500 million from last year. And the number of women on the list rose to 89 from 72 last year.

"The global economy is recovering and it's reflected in what you see in the list this year," Steve Forbes, chief executive of Forbes, told a news conference. "Financial markets have also made an even more impressive comeback from the lows of just about a year ago, particularly in emerging markets."

"Asia is leading the comeback," Forbes said.

The number of billionaires in the Asia-Pacific region grew by 80 percent to 234 and their net worth almost doubled to US$729 billion, which the Forbes ranking attributed to the area's "swelling stock markets and several large public offerings during the past year."

Two Indians round out the top five richest people in the world -- Mukesh Ambani, with a petrochemicals, oil and gas fortune of US$29 billion, and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who is valued at US$28.7 billion.

The biggest gainer on the list was Brazilian mining magnate Eike Batista, 53, with US$27 billion, up from US$7.5 billion. He made his riches through the initial public offerings of several companies. He is planning to take his shipbuilding and oil services firm OSX public next week in an expected US$5.6 billion offering, which would be Brazil's second biggest ever IPO.

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