UK’s richest 50 families have more wealth than 50% of the population

The investigation shows that billionaires have become 'ludicrously' wealthier.

The investigation from Equality Trust found that the number of billionaires in the UK has grown sharply, from 15 in 1990 to 165 in 2024.

The 50 richest families in the UK amassed more wealth than the poorest half of the country, which is around 34 million people.

Priya Sahni-Nicholas, co-executive director of the Equality Trust, told The Guardian: "Our analysis also shows the vampiric nature of extreme wealth, which is completely incompatible with the health and wellbeing of the nation.

"Property, inheritance and finance account for over half of total billionaire current wealth: sources of wealth creation that are responsible for large-scale planetary and community destruction.

“The obscene growth in wealth of the UK’s richest is due to them profiting from society’s struggles while causing them additional harm and undermining successive governments’ goals of decarbonisation, spreading more wealth and growth out of London, ending the housing crisis, encouraging the growth of new – and frequently greener – industries, and encouraging stronger communities.

“The issue of extreme wealth really is existential; for our very survival we need to get serious about changing economic structures and design policies that end the existence of billionaires.”

In 2024, the richest UK billionaires had more wealth between them than all of the billionaires in The Sunday Times' 1990 rich list combined.

Julia Davies, who is a member of Patriotic Millionaires UK, claims that featuring in the rich list should be seen as something to be ashamed of.

She said: "This process of hoovering up wealth into the hands of ever fewer people is directly harming everyone.

"These people don’t deserve that level of wealth, it just so happens that some people gather an incredible amount of money around them while other people don’t, despite educating our kids and keeping our health service going."

Some of the richest people in the UK include the Hinduja family, the Reuben brothers and the likes of Jim Ratcliffe and James Dyson.

The top 10 rich list is as follows:

1. Gopi Hinduja and family - £35.3 billion

2. David and Simon Reuben and family – £26.87 billion

3. Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £25.73 billion

4. Sir James Dyson and family – £20.8 billion

5. Idan Ofer – £20.12 billion

6. Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £17.75 billion

7. Sir Jim Ratcliffe – £17.05 billion

8. Lakshmi Mittal and family – £15.44 billion

9. John Fredriksen and family – £13.68 billion

10. Igor and Dmitry Bukhman – £12.54 billion