The Countries Where The Super-Rich Are More Likely To Have Inherited Their Wealth

In every country in the world, there are countless stories about billionaires who built massive business empires despite humble beginnings. In Austria, however, a billionaire is far more likely to have inherited his or her fortune. According to a report from Jonathan Wai of Duke University and David Lincoln of Wealth-X, 49.6 percent of Austrians with a net worth over $30 million were born into wealth.

The situation is similar in Sweden where 43.8 percent of ultra high net worth individuals inherited their fortune. In the United Kingdom and the United States however, the story is quite different with the vast majority of wealthy individuals starting off from scratch without familial assistance. In Russia where oil has produced countless billionaires since the collapse of communism, inheriting vast sums of money is far rarer: a mere 1.3 percent of super-rich individuals in Russia netted their wealth through inheritance.