The super-rich got 20 per cent richer last year

The world's wealthiest people are upping their income by a fifth in the past year, a new report claims. Picture / 123rf

The super-rich are getting richer. The world's most wealthy billionaires have increased their fortunes by almost $8 trillion in the past year.

And it could mark the start of the "Asian Century" as the continent boasted more billionaires than the US for the first time ever, according to the UBS/PwC Billionaires report.

It shows that those on megabucks have boosted their combined global wealth by almost a fifth and there are now 1,542 US-dollar billionaires across the world.

Josef Stadler, the lead author of the report, said billionaire wealth dropped in 2015, but the 2016 figures show the super-wealthy are flourishing.

This year we've seen a dramatic return to growth," he wrote in the report.

"Billionaire wealth rose 17 per cent in 2016. Despite a period of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, the world's ultra-wealthy are flourishing."

The report states this "period of great wealth creation" started in 1980 and has almost lasted as long as "The Gilded Age" from 1870 to 1910 - when the world's wealth rocketed.

Stadler said the dramatic growth of super-rich Asians played a part in the dramatic figures.

The report states that a new billionaire is created in the region once every two days.

"Powered by the rise of China's entrepreneurs in an exceptional year, the number of Asian billionaires rose by almost a quarter to 637," the report states.

"By comparison, the US is home to 563 billionaires and Europe to 342.

However, the US still retains the greatest amount of billionaire wealth as the wealthiest individuals live there."

However, Stadler told The Guardian his billionaire clients were now concerned that growing inequality between rich and poor could lead to a "strike back".

"We're at an inflection point," Stadler told the paper. "Wealth concentration is as high as in 1905, this is something billionaires are concerned about.

"The problem is the power of interest on interest - that makes big money bigger and, the question is to what extent is that sustainable and at what point will society intervene and strike back?"

He said the "$1bn question" now is how society would react to the concentration of so much money in the hands of so few.

However, the report also shows that the 1,542 billionaires in the report also employ 27.7 million people worldwide through their companies - roughly the same as the UK's working population.

They are not keeping this wealth to themselves either.

"After philanthropy, art and sports are two of the areas where billionaires make a big difference to society," the report reads.

"Billionaires are becoming more engaged in the arts, and, increasingly, investing in sports
clubs. This trend is helping to globalise art collecting and to increase its accessibility to the public.

"Commercialising sports clubs not only helps make them more profitable but also delivers associated benefits to the communities they are part of."

The face of the super-rich is also changing. Those making the big bucks, are often younger and 'self-made'.

"In 1995 just 45 per cent of billionaires were self-made," the report states. "By 2016, that percentage had risen to around 70 per cent," reads the report.

And, it's younger people who are taking over the technology sector.

Tech billionaires have an average age of 47 - making them 12 years younger than their peers in consumer and retail.