NEW YORK - The 2017 list of the world's richest people as compiled by Forbes is out, with 233 new billionaires among 2,043 listed by the magazine.
China accounted for the largest number of new entrants on the Forbes list, with 76 mainland billionaires listed for the first time.
The collective worth of all the men and women on the Forbes list is US$7.67 trillion, up from US$6.48 trillion in 2016.
Thailand's billionaires
Rank - Name, Net Worth in US dollars
62 - Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, $15.8 bln
132 - Dhanin Chearavanont, $9.7 bln
414 - Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, $4.2 bln
460 - Vanich Chaiyawan, $3.9 bln
564 - Sumet Jiaravanon, $3.4 bln
581 - Jaran Chiaravanont, $3.3 bln
581 - Montri Jiaravanont, $3.3 bln
717 - Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, $2.8 bln
896 - Krit Ratanarak, $2.3 bln
1234 - Thaksin Shinawatra, $1.7 bln
1376 - Kiat Chiaravanont, $1.5 bln
1376 - William Heinecke, $1.5 bln
1376 - Wichai Thongtang, $1.5 bln
1468 - Keeree Kanjanapas, $1.4 bln
1567 - Thongma Vijitpongpun, $1.3 bln
1678 - Somphote Ahunai, $1.2 bln
1678 - Rit Thirakomen, $1.2 bln
1795 - Harald Link, $1.1 bln
1795 - Prayudh Mahagitsiri, $1.1 bln
1940 - Surin Upatkoon, $1 bln
According to Forbes, Bill Gates is the number one richest for the fourth year in a row, and the richest person in the world for 18 out of the past 23 years. He has a fortune of $86 billion, up from $75 billion last year.
Amazon's Jeff Bezos, now owner and publisher of the Washington Post newspaper, had the best year of any person on the planet. Forbes said he added $27.6 billion to his fortune. Now worth $72.8 billion, he moved into the top three in the world for the first time, up from number five a year ago.
US President Donald Trump came in at No.544 on the list, with a net worth estimated by Forbes of $3.5 billion - double that of Thaksin and behind Thailand's four richest men.
Warren Buffett had the second-best year, and the biggest gain since Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016. His $14.8 billion jump in 12 months was enough for him to grab back the number two spot from Amancio Ortega, founder of Spanish clothing chain Zara.
Ortega's fortune was up $4.3 billion since last year, but he still fell to fourth in the world, unable to keep up with the outsize gains of others.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg moved up to number five for the first time, after his fortune rose $11.4 billion in 12 months.
Meanwhile Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico, the biggest investor in The New York Times and once the world's richest man, fell to number six, the first time he's been out of the top five in a dozen years.
Mainland China had the most new ten-figure fortunes with 76. The US was second with 25.
Notable newbies include Patagonia sportswear founder Yvon Chouinard; Viking Cruises founder Torstein Hagen of Norway; US hedge fund tycoon Cliff Asness and two of his partners; and John and Patrick Collison, Irish citizens who cofounded San Francisco-based Stripe, which enables online payments. John Collison, age 26, is now the world's youngest self-made billionaire, just two months younger than Snapchat's Evan Spiegel.
There are also 15 new self-made women, all but one of whom are from Asia Pacific. That includes 10 from China and the first ever from Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, who took her budget airline, VietJet Air, public in February 2017.
The sole American self-made woman newcomer is Thai Lee, who was born in Thailand but moved to the US as a child and now runs tech reseller SHI, reportedly the nation's largest woman-owned business by sales.
Here are the Thais on the Forbes list, by ranking and net worth. More detail can be seen at the Forbes listing.
