Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty join UK rich list with combined £730m fortune (2024)

Rishi Sunak has become the first frontline politician to be ranked among the UK’s wealthiest people, only days after the chancellor warned consumers that “the next few months will be tough” as the cost of living squeeze intensifies.

Sunak, a former hedge fund manager, and his Indian heiress wife, Akshata Murty, were named on the Sunday Times rich list as the 222nd wealthiest people in the UK, with a combined £730m fortune.

Becoming the first frontline politician to be named in the annual ranking since its inception in 1989 is likely to increase pressure on Sunak to do more to help households struggling with inflation, which hit 9% in April, its highest level in 40 years, and soaring energy bills.

At a Confederation of British Industry dinner on Wednesday night, Sunak said: “There is no measure any government could take, no law we could pass, that can make these global forces disappear overnight. The next few months will be tough. But where we can act, we will.”

Sunak and Murty’s entry into the Sunday Times rich list follows the revelation last month that Murty had claimed non-dom status to legally not pay tax on annual dividends she receives from a £690m stake in the Indian IT company Infosys, founded by her billionaire father.

After mounting public outrage, Murty bowed to pressure to pay UK taxes, saying she realised many people felt her tax arrangements were not “compatible with my husband’s job as chancellor”.

The couple own a property portfolio of four homes worth an estimated £15m, including a £5m Santa Monica penthouse overlooking the beach where Baywatch was filmed.

Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, said it was “fantastic” news that Sunak had joined the rich list, and dismissed suggestions that his vast wealth meant he was out of touch with people’s day-to-day struggles to make ends meet.

“He’s a fantastic example of someone who’s been successful in business, who’s coming to make a big impact in public service,” Raab told Times Radio. “I think we want more of those people. I think it’s fantastic that you’ve got someone of British-Indian origin, showing all people in our country that you can get to the top of politics.

“And frankly, I think if I understood correctly, the Sunday Times rich list was a reflection of not just him but his wife. His wife is an incredibly successful entrepreneur in her own right.”

The UK now has a record 177 billionaires, up six on 2021. Their combined wealth is up 9.4% to a record £653bn.

George Dibbs, the head of the Centre for Economic Justice at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the coronavirus pandemic had allowed already extremely wealthy people to increase their fortunes while the savings of the poorest people were wiped out.

“As we enter a once-in-a-generation cost of living crisis, the Sunday Times rich list shows us again that vast wealth often begets more wealth. That has proved particularly true during the pandemic, when the wealthiest accumulated more wealth than poorer people, who saved nothing,” he said. “Now there are more billionaires in the UK than ever before and the collective wealth of the richest has grown again.”

Dibbs called on Sunak to act fast to introduce taxes “redistributing the wealth gains of the richest to pay for higher social security benefits for those who most need them”.

Julia Davies, a founding member of Patriotic Millionaires UK, a group of super-rich people calling for the introduction of a wealth tax, said the list showed an “obscene concentration of wealth while millions struggle with simply living.

“The fact that our chancellor now joins the ranks of the richest people in the UK – while he and the government refuse to consider taxing wealth over work – is a shocking insight into our political system. We have repeatedly asked the chancellor to raise taxes on us, the wealthiest people in society. His appearance on the rich list makes it very clear why he’s not listening.

“As the Bank of England warns of apocalyptic food price rises, 2 million people are skipping meals, and a third of people can’t afford the essentials. Meanwhile, the rich, as always, are sitting pretty. This disparity has to be fixed. It is political and economic negligence that our politicians are not focused on dealing with the extreme wealth gap at a time of national economic emergency.”

Sri and Gopi Hinduja were named the UK’s richest people, with an estimated £28.5bn fortune, the largest recorded in the 34 years of the rich list. The brothers who run a property-to-industrial conglomerate from London saw their wealth swell by £11.5bn over the past year to put them at the top of the annual wealth ranking ahead of the inventor Sir James Dyson, who is in second place with £23bn.

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Sri, 86, and Gopi, 82, Hinduja and their extended family own a wide range of industrial and financial businesses and investments based mainly in the UK, India and Switzerland. They are currently transforming the Old War Office building in Whitehall into a Raffles hotel with 120 rooms, 11 restaurants and 85 serviced flats.

Luke Hildyard, executive director of the High Pay Centre, a thinktank that focuses on excessive pay, said: “It’s not really efficient or sensible or necessary to run the economy in a way that enables people who are already incredibly wealthy to accumulate even more while much of the population is crushed by a cost of living crisis.

“With stagnating wages and miserable economic growth, it’s clear that sharing existing wealth more evenly is the most important political challenge of our time. That means taxing the super-rich more effectively and getting the companies they own and invest in to pay their workers more.”

Hildyard calculated that if total household wealth in Great Britain had increased at the same rate as the wealth of the Top 20 entrants on the rich list over the past decade, the average household would now have £205,000 more than they currently do.

The Top 10 richest people in the UK

Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family – £28.5bn

Sir James Dyson and family – £23bn

David and Simon Reuben and family – £22.3bn

Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £20bn

Guillaume Pousaz – £19.3bn

Lakshmi Mittal and family – £17bn

Christoph Henkel and family – £15bn

Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £13.5bn

Kirsten and Jorn Rausing £12bn

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £11.4bn

Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty join UK rich list with combined £730m fortune (2024)

FAQs

Is Rishi Sunak richer than King Charles? ›

Rishi Sunak and his wife sit on a fortune of £730,000,000. That's around twice the estimated wealth of King Charles III. Remember this whenever he talks about making “tough decisions” that working class people will pay for.

Who is the richest family in Britain? ›

As of November 13, 2022, Hinduja brothers was the wealthiest man in the United Kingdom, with an estimated net worth of 15.2 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Michael Platt (No. 2, $15.2 billion), James Ratcliffe (No. 3, $13.6 billion) and Christopher Hohn (No. 4, $7.9 billion).

Who are the 3 wealthiest people in the world then list their net worth? ›

The top 10 richest people in the world are:
  • 1. Bernard Arnault: $162 billion.
  • Elon Musk: $137 billion.
  • Gautam Adani: $121 billion.
  • Bill Gates: $109 billion.
  • Warren Buffett: $107 billion.
  • Jeff Bezos: $107 billion.
  • Larry Ellison: $91.8 billion.
  • Mukesh Ambani: $87.1 billion.
Jan 3, 2023

Who is the richest person in the world 2022? ›

1. Bernard Arnault & family. Bernard Arnault is the CEO and Chair of LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) and his net worth is $198.4 billion, meaning Elon Musk was overtaken as the world's richest man in 2022.

Who was the richest English king in history? ›

Henry VIII may have been the wealthiest monarch in British history.

Who is the richest monarch of all time? ›

List of royalty by net worth
RankNameNet worth
1Vajiralongkorn$43 billion — $30 billion
2Hassanal Bolkiah$28 billion — $20 billion
3Salman of Saudi Arabia$18 billion
4Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (died in 2022)$15.0 billion
10 more rows

Who are the 5 richest families in the UK? ›

The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family – £9.73bn. Barnaby and Merlin Swire and family – £9.6bn. Marit, Lisbet, Sigrid and Hans Rausing – £9.49bn. Anil Agarwal – £9.2bn.

Who is the richest family in London? ›

Sri and Gopi Hinduja

Where do billionaires live in London? ›

Chelsea. Chelsea is one of the richest neighbourhoods in London, a district situated in west London. It's known for its fashionable and expensive shops and restaurants, as well as being home to many of the richest people in the world.

Who are the 3 wealthiest families in the world? ›

The top 10 richest families in 2022 by estimated wealth are:
  • The Hermès family with $94.6 billion.
  • The Ambani family with $84.6 billion.
  • The Wertheimer family with $79 billion.
  • The Cargill, MacMillan family with $65.2 billion.
  • The Thomson family with $53.9 billion.
  • The Hoffman, Oeri family with $45.1 billion1.

What family has the highest net worth? ›

For the fourth year in a row, the Waltons top the list of the world's richest families with a net worth of $224.5 billion.

Who is the wealthiest person on earth? ›

Key Takeaways
  • Bernard Arnault, co-founder, chair, and CEO of LVMH, is the richest person and the richest man in the world with a net worth of $164 billion. ...
  • Behind Arnault is co-founder and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk.

How do rich people live? ›

Many millionaires, for example, allocate their time differently — they spend more time focusing on personal growth, planning for investments, and working, and less time sleeping. They also gravitate toward similar wealth-building strategies, like saving as much as they can and bringing in multiple income streams.

What is Donald Trump's net worth? ›

Forbes estimates it at $3.2 billion as of October 26, 2022, with Trump making much higher claims. Trump inherited wealth from his father, and he has also made money from fundraising, real estate ventures, hotels, casinos, golf courses, and Trump-branded products including neckties and steaks.

Who is the richest royal family in India? ›

The Mewar family ranks really high among India's wealthiest royal families. The family of Rana Sriji Arvind Singh Mewar resides in Udaipur and is the 76th custodian of the royal highness. The king, a member of a noble family, is the proprietor of the HRH Group of Hotels, a Rs 50 crore business.

Who owns Buckingham Palace? ›

Occupied Royal Palaces, such as Buckingham Palace, are not the private property of The Queen. They are occupied by the Sovereign and held in trust by Crown Estates for future generations. The Queen privately owns two properties, Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House, which are not publicly funded.

Who was the richest black king? ›

That crown goes to Mansa Musa, the 14th-century king of the Mali Empire. His wealth was so vast that historians and economists struggle to put an official number on it.

Who will inherit Queen Elizabeth money? ›

Her Majesty leaves behind over $500 million in personal assets from her 70 years on the throne, which Prince Charles will inherit when he is crowned king.

Who is the most powerful royal family in the world? ›

Richest royal families from around the world
  • Richest royals. ...
  • #7 The royal family of Brunei. ...
  • #6 The royal family of Thailand. ...
  • #5 The British royal family. ...
  • #4 The royal family of Abu Dhabi. ...
  • #3 The royal family of Qatar. ...
  • #2 The royal family of Kuwait. ...
  • #1 The royal family of Saudi Arabia. Net Worth: $1.4 trillion.
Nov 25, 2022

How much does the royal family cost the taxpayer? ›

The Accounts for the Sovereign Grant, which funds the Queen and her household's official expenses, released a report in the summer of 2022, showing that the monarchy cost the taxpayer £102.4m ($114.6m) during the 2021–22 financial year – an increase of 17% from the previous 12 months.

Where do billionaires live UK? ›

What Part of London Is the Wealthiest? There are many wealthy neighborhoods in London. Knightsbridge and the City of Westminster are among the wealthiest.

Who is the richest UK resident? ›

The London-based Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, and family are the richest people in the UK with a £28bn fortune, which is up more than £11bn on last year.

How many Brits are millionaires? ›

The UK is home to nearly 2.85 million millionaires, according to Credit Suisse. Since these statistics compare the number how many sterling millionaires in the UK and across nations using various currencies, they classify someone as a millionaire if they have assets worth more than $1 million (instead of pounds).

Where is the richest place in London? ›

1- Mayfair

As well as the many wealthy Georgian homes, Mayfair is also home to the world-famous tailor district of Savile Row.

What is the name of the richest part of London? ›

1. Chelsea - 140 sales of £5 million-plus properties between 2020 and 2022. Strong domestic demand has made Chelsea London's most expensive area, exclusive research for The National conducted by Savills Research has found.

Who are the old money families in America? ›

"Old money" applies to those of the upper class whose wealth separates them from lower social classes. According to anthropologist W. Lloyd Warner, the upper class in the United States during the 1930s was divided into the upper-upper and the lower-upper classes.

What is the poorest area of London? ›

Barking & Dagenham in east London is shown to be the most deprived borough, with 37.1 percent of its residents suffering deprivation in at least one of the categories.

What salary do I need to live in London? ›

General living expenses

It's thought that a single person living in London will need around £1,500 per month to cover their living expenses and just over £1,200 in Manchester. However, with the pandemic pushing inflation to a 10-year high, the cost of general living expenses is rising sharply.

Where do middle class live in London? ›

Fulham and Putney

With its picturesque Victorian houses and proximity to the King's Road and Chelsea, Fulham is a desirable suburb popular with middle-class families as well as young professionals. Putney is just south of Fulham, over the river, and is popular with Australians, New Zealanders and South African expats.

Who is the most elite family in America? ›

Family Matters
RankFamilyOrigin of Wealth
#1Walton FamilyWalmart
#2Koch FamilyKoch Industries
#3Mars FamilyMars Inc.
#4Cargill-MacMillan FamilyCargill Inc.
6 more rows
Mar 27, 2021

Who is the richest Arab family? ›

The following is the change in the fortunes of the five richest Arab families from March 11 to December 29, 2022:
  • Sawiris Family. Country: Egypt. Wealth: $11.2 billion. ...
  • Mikati Family. Wealth: $5.6 billion. ...
  • Mansour Family. Net worth: $5.1 billion. ...
  • Issad Rabrab Family. Wealth: $5.1 billion. ...
  • Hariri Family.
7 days ago

Who has the most money in the US? ›

Top 25 richest Americans
RankNameNet worth in billion US$
1Jeff Bezos195.9
2Elon Musk146.5
3Bill Gates135.8
4Larry Ellison119.5
21 more rows

What percentage of Americans have a net worth of over $1000000? ›

8.8 % of U.S. adults are millionaires. 33% of U.S. millionaires are women. Having $1 million puts you in the top 10% of wealth in the U.S. There are about 62.5 million millionaires globally, a 11.4% increase from 2020.

What is the average US household family net worth? ›

Average Net Worth by Age: How Do You Compare? The average net worth for U.S. families is $748,800. The median — a more representative measure — is $121,700.

What net worth is considered rich? ›

How much money do you need to be considered rich? According to Schwab's 2022 Modern Wealth Survey (opens in new tab), Americans believe it takes an average net worth of $2.2 million to qualify a person as being wealthy. (Net worth is the sum of your assets minus your liabilities.)

Are there any trillionaires in history? ›

No one has yet claimed the title of trillionaire, although the speed at which the world's wealthiest individuals have grown their fortunes suggests that it could happen in just a few years.

Who was a trillionaire in history? ›

1. Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan one of the most fearsome conquerors of all time, and by the end of his life the Mongol Empire occupied a vast empire from Central Asia to China. Much of the wealth came from plunders, taxes and control of caravan routes along the Silk Road and provide the Mongols with valuable revenue.

Who was the first billionaire in human history? ›

On September 29, 1916, Rockefeller became the first person ever to reach a nominal personal fortune of $1 billion (equivalent to $17 billion in 2021). Rockefeller amassed his fortune from the Standard Oil company, of which he was a founder, chairman and major shareholder.

How much money has Elon Musk lost? ›

Elon Musk can add a new title to his resume: Guinness World Record holder. The “Technoking” of Tesla made it into the record books thanks to an abysmal 2022 which saw his fortune shrink by $182 billion, the organization announced Friday in a release that cited data from Forbes.

Who is the richest musician in Nigeria? ›

Don Jazzy has been a recipient of awards (Producer of the year for the song titled over the moon), Based on Don Jazzy's richest musician in Nigeria status, the Mavins CEO has a vested interest in luxury cars and houses.

Where do the richest people live in USA? ›

New York City is home to more rich people than any other city in the world, according to a new report by investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners.

Do millionaires buy houses cash? ›

Some wealthy people could easily buy houses outright without borrowing. Rich people often still take out home loans anyway even though they could pay cash.

Why do rich people rent? ›

Renting allows people to still be mobile and not tied down to one location as you would if you were to buy a house you are living in. Especially in this day and age with an ever-evolving job market, the wealthy would rather have the flexibility to move to take advantage of new opportunities when it presents itself.

What was Ronald Reagan's net worth? ›

Ronald Reagan ranks second on our list for net worth when entering office. The one-time actor had $10.6 million to his name before starting the first of two terms in 1981, growing that to $15.4 million by the time he died in 2004.

How much money is Ed Sheeran worth? ›

Thanks to hits like “Shape of You,” “Bad Habits,” “Castle on the Hill” and “Perfect,” Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has an estimated net worth of $200 million dollars, according to CelebrityNetWorth.com.

What is Will Smith's net worth in 2022? ›

Will Smith's net worth is estimated at $350 Million which makes him one of the richest actors in the world. At 54 years old, Will Smith is an American actor, rapper, and songwriter.

How much richer is Rishi than the king? ›

As most of Murty's investments are privately held, it is challenging to estimate how much she and her husband could be worth, but the stake in Infosys gives us some idea. On this basis, it seems as if Sunak and Murty are worth at least £630m, and that makes them richer than King Charles III.

Is Rishi Sunak's wife richer than the king? ›

Altogether, Forbes estimates Sunak and his wife Murthy are worth roughly $810 million—more than a quarter of a billion dollars richer than the $500 million personal fortune of King Charles III.

How rich is King Charles now? ›

King Charles's net worth is $600 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The site reports that Charles' net worth increased from $100 million when he was the Prince of Wales to $600 million after he ascended the throne as king.

Which family has been rich the longest? ›

The Du Pont family fortune began in 1803, but they became an extraordinarily wealthy family by selling gunpowder during the American Civil War. By World War I, the DuPont family produced virtually all American gunpowder. In 1968, Ferdinand Lundberg declared the Du Pont fortune to be America's largest family fortune.

Who is richer than the royal family? ›

Rishi Sunak will become the wealthiest ever prime minister of the U.K., with his family's personal fortune surpassing even that of the royals. Sunak, 42, is breaking plenty of ground as he becomes the country's third premier in under two months.

Which family is the richest in India? ›

Despite this, the combined wealth of India's 100 richest grew $25 billion to touch $800 billion.
...
  • Gautam Adani & family. ...
  • Mukesh Ambani. ...
  • Radhakishan Damani & family. ...
  • Cyrus Poonawalla. ...
  • Shiv Nadar. ...
  • Savitri Jindal & family. ...
  • Dilip Shanghvi & family. ...
  • Hinduja brothers.
Oct 12, 2022

Who is the richest King family in the world? ›

Richest royal families from around the world
  • Richest royals. ...
  • #7 The royal family of Brunei. ...
  • #6 The royal family of Thailand. ...
  • #5 The British royal family. ...
  • #4 The royal family of Abu Dhabi. ...
  • #3 The royal family of Qatar. ...
  • #2 The royal family of Kuwait. ...
  • #1 The royal family of Saudi Arabia. Net Worth: $1.4 trillion.
Nov 25, 2022

Who is Akshata husband? ›

Murty is a citizen of India. In August 2009, Murty married Rishi Sunak, whom she met at Stanford University. They have two daughters – Anoushka and Krishna.

Which king was richest in India? ›

Well, the royalty and legacy of the richest man in the history of India date back to many decades, rather over a century. Looking back at our history, Mir Osman Ali Khan is the richest man in Indian history with an adjusted net worth because of inflation. He is the 7th Nizam and the last Nawab of the Hyderabad state.

Who was the richest Emperor of India? ›

During his days as Nizam, he was reputed to be the richest man in the world, having a fortune estimated at US$2 billion in the early 1940s ( US$33.2 billion in 2021 dollars) or two per cent of the US economy then.

Does Prince Harry get any money from the royal family? ›

The Duke of Sussex's highly-anticipated memoir Spare has been officially published after days of leaks. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan no longer receive money from the Royal Family, and earn their income from commercial arrangements.

What is the salary of the Queen? ›

Originally known as the Civil List, it was replaced by the Sovereign Grant in 2012. This grant amount was set to just over 86 million pounds in 2021 and 2022.

How much money is considered old money? ›

Social scientists generally agree that wealth must be sustained through more than three generations before being considered “old money”. That is, it doesn't reach the social status accorded to owners of “old money” until it has aged for three or more generations.

What is considered old money? ›

Old money refers to people who have inherited significant generational wealth; their families have been wealthy for several generations. In the past, old money would have referred to an elite class: the aristocracy or landed gentry.

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