Meet the world's top 100 billionaires

The ranking of the world's top 100 richest people as estimated by Forbes magazine. Listings include rank, name, home country or state, age where known, wealth in billions of dollars and source of the money.

Forbes says the research that when into compiling the rankings began in early 2006 and ended on February 9, 2007.

The tally of billionaires around the globe reached a high of 946, their combined wealth growing 35 percent to $3.5 trillion (€2.6 trillion), according to Forbes magazine's 2007 rankings of the world's richest people.

The rich cashed in on strong equity markets, real estate and commodity prices worldwide, according to Forbes billionaires co-editor Luisa Kroll.

Leading the list are two men who manage to keep getting richer as they give more and more money away. Microsoft founder Bill Gates ranked No. 1 for the 13th straight year, beating out friend and fellow philanthropist Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

• 1. Bill Gates, Washington, 51, $56 billion, Microsoft
• 2. Warren Buffett, Nebraska, 76, $52, Berkshire Hathaway
• 3. Carlos Slim Helu, Mexico, 67, $49, telecom
• 4. Ingvar Kamprad and family, Sweden, 80, $33, Ikea
• 5. Lakshmi Mittal, India, 56, $32, steel
• 6. Sheldon Adelson, Nevada, 73, $26.5, casinos, hotels
• 7. Bernard Arnault, France, 58, $26, LVMH
• 8. Amancio Ortega, Spain, 71, $24, Zara
• 9. Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong, 78, $23, diversified
• 10. David Thomson and family, Canada, 49, $22, inheritance
• 11. Lawrence Ellison, California, 62, $21.5, Oracle
• 12. Liliane Bettencourt, France, 84, $20.7, L'Oreal
• 13. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, Saudi Arabia, 50, $20.3, investments
• 14. Mukesh Ambani, India, 49, $20.1, petrochemicals
• 15. Karl Albrecht, Germany, 87, $20, Aldi
• 16. Roman Abramovich, Russia, 40, $18.7, oil
• 17. Stefan Persson, Sweden, 59, $18.4, Hennes & Mauritz
• 18. Anil Ambani, India, 47, $18.2, diversified
• 19. Paul Allen, Washington, 54, $18, Microsoft, investments
• 20. Theo Albrecht, Germany, 84, $17.5, Aldi, Trader Joe's
• 21. Azim Premji, India, 61, $17.1, software
• 22. Lee Shau Kee, Hong Kong, 79, $17, real estate
• 23. Jim Walton, Arkansas, 59, $16.8, Wal-Mart
• 24. Christy Walton and family, Wyoming, 52, $16.7, Wal-Mart inheritance
• 25. S. Robson Walton, Arkansas, 63, $16.7, Wal-Mart
• 26. Sergey Brin, California, 33, $16.6, Google
• 27. Larry Page, California, 34, $16.6, Google
• 28. Alice Walton, Texas, 57, $16.6, Wal-Mart
• 29. Helen Walton, Arkansas, 87, $16.4, Wal-Mart
• 30. Michael Dell, Texas, 42, $15.8, Dell
• 31. Steven Ballmer, Washington, 51, $15, Microsoft
• 32. Kirk Kerkorian, California, 89, $15, investments, casinos
• 33. Raymond, Thomas and Walter Kwok, Hong Kong, ages unknown, $15, real estate
• 34. Francois Pinault, France, 70, $14.5, retail
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• 35. Suleiman Kerimov, Russia, 41, $14.4, stocks
• 36. Vladimir Lisin, Russia, 50, $14.3, steel
• 37. Jack Taylor and family, Missouri, 84, $13.9, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• 38. Vladimir Potanin, Russia, 46, $13.5, metals
• 39. Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia, 41, $13.5, metals
• 40. Oleg Deripaska, Russia, 39, $13.3, aluminum
• 41. Michael Otto and family, Germany, 63, $13.3, retail
• 42. Carl Icahn, New York, 71, $13, leveraged buyouts
• 43. Abigail Johnson, Massachusetts, 45, $13, Fidelity
• 44. Adolf Merckle, Germany, 72, $12.8, drugs
• 45. Barbara Cox Anthony, Hawaii, 83, $12.6, Cox Enterprises
• 46. Anne Cox Chambers, Georgia, 87, $12.6, Cox Enterprises
• 47. Mikhail Fridman, Russia, 42, $12.6, oil, banking
• 48. Vagit Alekperov, Russia, 56, $12.4, oil
• 49. Charles Koch, Kansas, 71, $12, oil, commodities
• 50. David Koch, New York, 66, $12, oil, commodities
• 51. Silvio Berlusconi and family, Italy, 70, $11.8, media
• 52. Nasser Al-Kharafi and family, Kuwait, 63, $11.5, construction
• 53. Leonardo Del Vecchio, Italy, 71, $11.5, eyewear
• 54. Alexei Mordashov, Russia, 41, $11.2, steel
• 55. Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor and family, Britain, 55, $11, real estate
• 56. Spiro Latsis and family, Greece, 60, $11, banking
• 57. Birgit Rausing and family, Sweden, 83, $11, packaging
• 58. Forrest Mars Jr., Virginia, 75, $10.5, candy
• 59. Jacqueline Mars, New Jersey, 67, $10.5, candy
• 60. John Mars, Virginia, 70, $10.5, candy
• 61. Viktor Vekselberg, Russia, 49, $10.4, oil, metals
• 62. Serge Dassault and family, France, 81, $10, aviation
• 63. Charles Ergen, Colorado, 54, $10, EchoStar
• 64. Michele Ferrero and family, Italy, 80, $10, chocolates
• 65. Naguib Sawiris, Egypt, 52, $10, telecom
• 66. Kushal Pal Singh, India, 75, $10, real estate
• 67. Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, France, ages unknown, $10, Chanel
• 68. Susanne Klatten, Germany, 44, $9.6, BMW, drugs
• 69. Philip Knight, Oregon, 69, $9.5, Nike
• 70. Sunil Mittal and family, India, 49, $9.5, telecom
• 71. John Kluge, Florida, 92, $9.1, Metromedia
• 72. Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Russia, 58, $9.1, telecom
• 73. Rupert Murdoch, New York, 76, $9, News Corp.
• 74. Hans Rausing, Sweden, 81, $9, packaging
• 75. Reinhold Wurth, Germany, 71, $9, manufacturing
• 76. Ernesto Bertarelli, Switzerland, 41, $8.8, biotech
• 77. Pierre Omidyar, Nevada, 39, $8.8, Ebay
• 78. Maria-Elisabeth and Georg Schaeffler, Germany, ages unknown, $8.7, ball bearings
• 79. Rafael del Pino and family, Spain, 86, $8.6, construction
• 80. Donald Bren, California, 74, $8.5, real estate
• 81. George Kaiser, Oklahoma, 64, $8.5, oil and gas, banking
• 82. George Soros, New York, 76, $8.5, hedge funds
• 83. Nikolai Tsvetkov, Russia, 46, $8.4, oil, banking
• 84. August von Finck, Germany, 77, $8.4, investments
• 85. Dan Duncan, Texas, 74, $8.2, energy
• 86. Mohammed Al Amoudi, Saudi Arabia, 61, $8, oil
• 87. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair and family, United Arab Emirates, 53, $8, banking
• 88. Kumar Birla, India, 39, $8, commodities
• 89. German Khan, Russia, 45, $8, oil, banking
• 90. Iskander Makhmudov, Russia, 43, $8, mining, metals
• 91. Sumner Redstone, California, 83, $8, Viacom
• 92. Shashi and Ravi Ruia, India, ages unknown, $8, diversified
• 93. Philip Anschutz, Colorado, 67, $7.9, investments
• 94. Galen Weston and family, Canada, 66, $7.9, retail
• 95. Enrique Banuelos, Spain, 41, $7.7, real estate
• 96. Stefan Quandt, Germany, 41, $7.6, BMW
• 97. Maan Al-Sanea, Saudi Arabia, 52, $7.5, construction, finance
• 98. Edward Johnson III, Massachusetts, 76, $7.5, Fidelity
• 99. Sulaiman Al Rajhi, Saudi Arabia, 87, $7.4, banking
• 100. Donald Newhouse, New Jersey, 77, $7.3, publishing