Wealth was created faster by Asia’s billionaires than by those in any other part of the globe in the past 12 months, with the region accounting for almost a third of a 12 per cent increase in global billionaire wealth of $7.3tn, according to an annual survey.

The combined wealth of the world’s billionaires is now higher than the combined market capitalisation of all the companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, according to the survey, conducted between June last year and July by Wealth-X, a research firm, and UBS, the Swiss-based bank.

Billionaires control nearly 4 per cent of the world’s wealth, the survey claims, with 155 new billionaires minted in the past year, pushing the global population to a record 2,325 – a 7 per cent rise from the last period surveyed.