Turkey Dominates Among MENA Billionaires

Forbes just released its 2015 list of the richest people on the planet, and 70 individuals from the MENA region made the cut, with nearly half of them hailing from Turkey. To make Forbes' list, individuals must possess at least $1 billion. This year, Forbes counted 1,826 billionaires globally, which is a new record. Cumulatively, the group of billionaires have $7.05 trillion. That is a lot of cash.

Citizens from the countries of Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates made the list. Royal families are not directly included, as they are considered to be powerful people who control a nation’s fortunes, rather than their own. A couple princes did make the cut because of their independent business ventures.

Bill Gates, from the United States, sits comfortably as the richest man in the world again. Gates has held this position for 16 out of the past 21 years. Coming in No. 2 globally is Mexican Carlos Slim Helu – who is of Lebanese descent. Although Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris recently made headlines for his planned investment in Euronews Television, he ties only for 13th place on our regional list. Prince Alwaleed Bil Tala Alsaud of Saudi Arabia comes in at No. 1 regionally, with more than twice as much wealth as his nearest competitor.

With 32 billionaires out of the regional 70, Turkey clearly dominates the regional ranking. Saudi Arabia comes in second with 10 billionaires. However, Turkey's top billionaire, Murat Ulker, holds a fortune of just $4.4 billion – compared to Alwaleed's $22.6 billion – coming in 6th regionally.  The rest of Turkish billionaires each have less than $3 billion. Yes, we said less. Notably, Turkey was also the only regional nation with women making the list. See the full list of regional billionaires below: