China Billionaire count: 147 Total wealth: $380 billion China ranks second in the world when it comes to the number of billionaires, but in terms of total wealth, the country is behind Germany and the U.K., tying with Russia for fourth spot. Billionaires account for 1.3 percent of those with $30 million or more in the world’s second biggest economy, while they control over 24 percent of the group’s $1.58 trillion wealth. On average, Chinese billionaires are worth almost $2.6 billion each and the top five cities with the most ultra-rich people are Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou. In the past year, however, Chinese billionaires have lost nearly a third of their wealth , down to $380 billion from $540 billion in the previous year. The slump in wealth reflects the overall trend in the region, with Asia’s ultra-rich seeing the biggest drop in wealth compared to anywhere else in the world. Poor performance of China’s equity market, with the Shanghai Composite Index falling 20 percent over August 2011 to July 2012, was one of the main reasons for the drop in wealth. Individuals holding manufacturing assets and real estate in China’s coastal provinces were the hardest hit, as factory production moved inland because of high labor costs, according to Wealth-X.