The Forbes magazine list of the wealthiest people in the world comes to a total fortune worth $2.2 trillion. This collective net worth is up $300 million from last year. Forbes' annual snapshot was taken on February 11th 2005. Their data was released on March 10th.

Last year, there were 587 billionaires in the world. This year, the number grew to a record 691.

Who has amassed the most wealth in the world? None other than Bill Gates -- for the 11th year in a row.

The World's Top Ten Billionaires

Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates (US) - $46.5 billion

Investor Warren Buffett (US) - $44bn

Indian steel mogul Lakshmi Mittal (India) - $25bn

Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim (Mexico) - $23.9bn

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud (Saudi Arabia) - $23.7bn

Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad (Sweden) - $23bn

Microsoft's Paul Allen (US) - $21bn

German supermarket company owner Karl Albrecht (Germany) - $18.5bn

Oracle Corp.'s chair Lawrence Ellison (US) - $18.4bn

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s S. Robson Walton (US) - $18.3bn

Source: Forbes

Forbes said the highest riser was Mittal, whose fortune increased by $18.8bn to $25bn.

Forbes also said that 388 of the 691 names on the list were "self-made" billionaires.

The Richest Women in The World

68 billionaires are women.

Alice and Helen Walton once again share the title of richest woman in the world. Their net worth is each $18 billion.

If you combine the worth of five family members of the late Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton it amounts to over $90 billion.

Seven of the women are self-made billionaires.

Oprah Winfrey, host of The Oprah Winfrey Show and Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling are two of them.

Oprah, 51, has a net worth of $1.3 billion.

Other women include:

Abigail Johnson, 43, the daughter of Fidelity Investment's founder (US) - $12 billion

Shari Arison, 47, inheritor of Carnival Corp. cruise line (Israel) - $5.5bn

Esther Koplowitz, 54, the daughter of the founder of construction giant (Spain) - $2.5bn

Miuccia Prada, 55, the granddaughter of the founder of Prada (Italy) - $1.7bn

Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala, 41, inheritor of beer giant (Mexico) - $1.8bn

Meg Whitman, 48, CEO of eBay (US) - $1.5bn

Martha Stewart, 63, self-made media mogul (US) - $1bn

While Martha was in prison she became a billionaire. She is one of the 131 newcomers this year.

Another new woman on the list is Russia's Elena Baturina. This Madame Mogul, according to Forbes, transformed her small plastics outfit manufacturing crockery into one of Moscow's biggest construction companies.

New Countries

Kazakhstan, Poland, Ukraine and Iceland now have billionaires.

These countries are new to the list. A total of 47 countries are represented in the billionaire's list.

Cities

New York has more billionaires than any other city in the world.

New York City has 34 billionaire residents.

Moscow and San Francisco each have 20.

London and Los Angeles each have 18.

Last Year's Newcomers

Last year's newcomers Google Inc.'s founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were each worth $1 billion. Since their IPO last August, the search engine kings have seen their net worth grow to $7.2 billion.

This year, they are No. 55 on the list.

Brin and Page are two of only 29 billionaires who are under the age of 40.

Brin is 31. Page is 32.

Today, Google's market cap is nearly $49 billion.

This Year's Newcomers

This year's newcomers include 69 Americans and 38 Europeans. More than half of them are entirely self-made.

The Youngest Billionaire

The youngest billionaire is 21 years of age.

His name is Albert von Thurn und Taxis. He is from Germany.

His net worth: $2 billion.

The youngest self-made billionaire is 35 years old.

China's Wong Kwong Yu runs a chain of 100-plus appliance stores catering to the world's most populous country and specifically their burgeoning middle class.

Why are there so many billionaires?

Read Forbes' answer at:

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "self-made and inherited" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegant Living publisher