The wealth of the continent’s billionaires has fallen below $3 trillion due to the collapse of stock markets and the war in Ukraine.

Forbes research found that the total number of billionaires in Europe and their aggregate wealth have declined over the past year, due to a sharp drop in the number of billionaires and their fortunes in sanctions-hit Russia.

Of a global total of 2,668 billionaires worth $12.7 trillion on Forbes’ 2022 list of the world’s billionaires, Europe has 592 billionaires, down from 628 a year ago. The combined wealth of European billionaires fell from $3 trillion last year to $2.8 trillion, due to a single global hot spot.

Russia’s war in Ukraine, the weakening of the Russian ruble and a decline in the estimated value of Russian companies caused the number of Russian billionaires to drop to 83 from last year’s 117. The remaining Russian billionaires are worth $320 billion, a full $263 billion less than a year ago. According to Forbes estimates, six of Russia’s richest people lost more than $10 billion each. For more information on Russian billionaires, see here. (Forbes calculated net worths using stock prices and exchange rates on Friday, March 11, 2022-a time when the Russian stock market was closed. It has since been reopened, with numerous restrictions on trading, and some stocks have rebounded.)

The European country with the most billionaires this year: Germany, with 134 billionaires worth a collective $608 billion. France also remains a hotspot for billionaires, especially for its luxury and fashion super maisons; the total wealth of the nation’s 43 billionaires increased 7 percent from last year to $550 billion. Sweden, on the other hand, is the workhorse: in a country of only 10 million people, there are 45 billionaires.

In the United Kingdom, it is not so much British entrepreneurs who are thriving as London-based companies with founders from overseas. Switzerland’s Guillaume Pousaz, founder of London-based payments company Checkout.com, became Europe’s richest tech entrepreneur, with an estimated value of $23 billion, after an investment round in January. Estonia created its first billionaire with Kristo Käärmann, co-founder of London-based cross-border payments startup Wise, while Revolut, the London-based digital banking startup, continued to gain value with Russia’s Nikolay Storonsky topping $7.1 billion and its Ukrainian co-founder Vlad Yatsenko worth $1.1 billion.

The European country with the most billionaires this year: Germany, with 134 billionaires worth a collective $608 billion. France also remains a hot zone for billionaires, especially for its luxury and fashion super maisons; the total wealth of the nation’s 43 billionaires increased by 7 percent over last year to $550 billion. Sweden, on the other hand, is the workhorse: in a country of only 10 million people, there are 45 billionaires.

In the United Kingdom, it is not so much British entrepreneurs who are thriving as London-based companies with founders from overseas. Switzerland’s Guillaume Pousaz, founder of London-based payments company Checkout.com, became Europe’s richest tech entrepreneur, with an estimated value of $23 billion, after an investment round in January. Estonia created its first billionaire with Kristo Käärmann, co-founder of London-based cross-border payments startup Wise, while Revolut, the London-based digital banking startup, continued to gain value with Russia’s Nikolay Storonsky topping $7.1 billion and its Ukrainian co-founder Vlad Yatsenko worth $1.1 billion.

The old and the new.

Europe is home to the world’s third richest person, LVMH chief Bernard Arnault, who with assets of $158 billion ranks behind first-place Elon Musk with $219 billion and second-place Jeff Bezos with $171 billion. Prominent figures Francoise Bettencourt Meyers of L’Oreal and Amancio Ortega of the fashion empire Zara rank 14th and 23rd, respectively, among the world’s richest people. Bettencourt Meyers is the richest woman in the world.

The ten richest European billionaires on the 2022 Forbes list are collectively worth $590 billion, an increase of $38 billion in the past year. In comparison, the ten richest U.S. billionaires have a combined value of $1.2 trillion, showing the vast difference between technologies when it comes to billionaire wealth at the top. Seven of the top ten U.S. billionaires are tech tycoons who made their money in the years following the mass adoption of the personal computer, the Internet and social media. Europe, by comparison, has no tech billionaires in its top 10.

The top ten richest people in Europe in 2022.

1. Bernard Arnault, France, $158 billion

2. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, France, $74 billion

3. Amancio Ortega, Spain, $59 billion

4. Dieter Schwarz, Germany, $47 billion

5. Rodolphe Saade, France, $41 billion

6. Francois Pinault, France, $40 billion

7. Klaus Michael Kuehne, Germany, $37 billion

8. Beate Heister & Karl Albrecht Jr, Germany, $36 billion

9. Giovanni Ferrero, Italy, $36 billion

10. Alain Wertheimer, France, $31 billion

11. Gerard Wertheimer, France, $31 billion

The ten richest European billionaires on the 2022 Forbes list are collectively worth $590 billion, an increase of $38 billion in the past year. In comparison, the ten richest U.S. billionaires have a combined value of $1.2 trillion, showing the vast difference between technologies when it comes to billionaire wealth at the top. Seven of the top ten U.S. billionaires are tech tycoons who made their money in the years following the mass adoption of the personal computer, the Internet and social media. Europe, by comparison, has no tech billionaires in its top 10.