Forbes Magazine released its 19th annual list of world's billionaires Thursday, saying that the super rich in the world had grown richer.

Forbes Magazine, a New York-based business media, reported 131 people had joined the billionaires' list and the total net worth of the 691 billionaires had climbed by US$ 300 billion to US$ 2.2 trillion this year.

The United States, with 341 billionaires, still ranked the first in the world's super rich's club. But many new faces came from the emerging economies, with India claiming 12 and Mexico claiming 10. Several new countries, such as Poland, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, were also joining the list.

Microsoft's founder Bill Gates, with US$ 46.5 billion, maintained his reign as world's richest billionaire, following by capital strategist Warren Buffett with US$ 44 billion and India's steel giant Lakshmi Mittal with US$ 25 billion.

Li Ka-shing, a billionaire from Hong Kong, became the richest Chinese with US$13 billion. Martha Stewart was listed by Forbes as a new billionaire for the first time. During her 5-month prison period, her net worth increased to US$1 billion, up by about US$ 600 million.

Steve Forbes, Forbes Magazine's chief executive and editor-in-chief, said a key factor that contributed to the increasing number of billionaires had been the economic recovery and growth. He expected the number of billionaires for 2006 to beat this year.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2005)