Reviewing politics
and culture since 1913

  1. Business
21 April 2013updated 22 Oct 2020 3:55pm

Britain’s 200 wealthiest people “are together worth £318.2bn”

Sunday Times Rich List says worth of country's super-elite has increased eightfold since 1989.

By Helen Lewis

Today’s annual Sunday Times Rich List gives an eye-opening insight into the fortunes of Britain’s super-elite.

The list is topped by Alisher Usmanov, 59, who was born in Uzbekistan and owns iron ore producer Metalloinvest. He is worth an estimated £13.3bn.

He is replaces steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal (£10bn), who has dropped to fourth place behind media mogul Len Blavatnik, who sold his £2bn stake in Russian oil and gas company TNK-BP in March, (£11bn) and Sri and Gopi Hinduja (£10.6bn). Two more oil tycoons – Roman Abramovich (£9.3bn) and John Frediksen (£8.8bn) – are fifth and sixth.

The list shows how international Britain’s elite are – the highest ranked billionaire born in Britain is the Duke of Westminster in eighth place, who has amassed £7.8bn from the London property market. And as the BBC’s business reporter Anthony Reuben notes: “New money has replaced old, but not much of it has been earned in Britain.”

Beyond the individual entries, though, the real story is the growing wealth of the super-rich has outpaced economic growth for everyone else. 

In 1989, when the list began, the Queen’s £5.2bn assets were enough to clinch her the top shot. The combined wealth of the top 200 people in the 2013 list is £318.2bn – eight times what it was a quarter of a century ago.

The average salary of a full-time worker in the UK is currently £26,500.

Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month

Content from our partners
The Hidden Cost of Poor Lung Health
Labour's historic opportunity
Those in power need to listen to children and young people. We’re the key to their future