Forbes magazine released its traditional list of the world’s richest people on Tuesday. The 2025 edition features 55 names of Brazilian billionaires, 47 of whom still live in the country.
Of these, the ultra-rich at the top of the Brazilian list are from São Paulo, with a fortune of approximately R$ 196.6 billion. This is equivalent to 5.6% of the state of São Paulo’s GDP, which in 2024 was R$3.5 trillion.
Brazilian billionaires on Forbes: São Paulo is at the top
The best-placed Brazilian is Eduardo Saverin, who was born in São Paulo and currently has a fortune of US$34.5 billion. The São Paulo native studied economics at Harvard University, where he met Mark Zuckerberg and became co-founder of Facebook. He currently lives in Singapore.
Next up is Vicky Safra, wife of the late banker Joseph Safra, who was born in Greece and became a naturalized Brazilian. With a fortune of US$ 20.7 billion, or R$ 119.44 billion, she is the 98th name on the Forbes list of billionaires and the richest Brazilian woman. Safra even owns one of the largest mansions in the world in the Morumbi neighborhood, next to the Jockey Club.
Most of the ultra-rich are from São Paulo
In 2024, Forbes Brasil announced that the southeast region accounted for 63% of Brazil’s billionaires. Of these, 40% were from São Paulo, which was the state with the highest number of ultra-rich people in the country.
This means that 2 out of every 5 Brazilian billionaires are from São Paulo. This influences another curious fact, that São Paulo is the 18th city with the highest number of rich people in the world with 37 billionaires living in the capital.
