US magazine Forbes on Monday published a report on the world's richest people for this year, in which it pointed out that the 40 Arab billionaires on the list possess a wealth that exceeds the budgets of 11 Arab countries combined.

Forbes revealed that the wealth of the 40 Arab billionaires, who come from eight different Arab countries, totals approximately $146.1 billion. That figure is close to the combined total budgets of Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, Mauritania, Yemen, Comoros, Djibouti, Sudan, Palestine and Somali - which stands at $146.4 billion.

The wealth of the 40 billionaire Arabs also exceeds the gross domestic product (GDP) of three Arab countries – namely Libya, Tunisia and Lebanon - which stood at $145.9 billion in 2014, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Forbes's rich list includes 1,826 individuals with a total wealth of $70۰5 trillion – a $650 billion increase to last year's combined wealth of $6.4 trillion.

This year's list is topped by Bill Gates, who has a net worth of $79.2 billion. Saudi Arabia topped the list of Arab countries in terms of the number of nationals represented on the rich list. The list includes 10 Saudi figures who possess $51.9 billion; most prominently Al-Waleed bin Talal. The Arab country with the second largest number of billionaires is Egypt, with eight rich figures who possess $44.2 billion. Egypt's richest people primarily come from the Sawiris family.

Lebanon ranked the third among the Arab countries on the list, with seven rich figures who possess a wealth of $14.1 billion. The four most prominent rich Lebanese come from the family of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Five wealthy Arabs come from Kuwait, mostly from the Kharafi family.

Morocco came in fifth position with three rich figures, led by the famous businessman Othman Benjelloun, the President and General Manager of FinanceCom; followed by Oman with two wealthy figures, and Algeria with only one billionaire: Issad Rebrab.