Various lists of the richest families in the world (excluding royal families or autocratic ruling dynasties) are published internationally, by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' as well as other business magazines. There is a distinction between wealth held by identifiable individual billionaires or a "

nuclear family A nuclear family, elementary family, cereal-packet family or conjugal family is a family group consisting of parents and their children (one or more), typically living in one home residence. It is in contrast to a single-parent family, the larger ...

" and the wider notion of an extended family or a historical "

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

," where the wealth of a historically

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

-owned company or business like the Scudder family has become distributed between various branches of descendants, usually throughout decades, ranging from several individuals to hundreds of offspring (such as the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...

). According to Bloomberg, the world's 25 richest families control $1.4

trillion ''Trillion'' is a number with two distinct definitions: * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or (ten to the twelfth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the meaning in both American and British English. * 1,000,000,000,0 ...

(1,400,000,000,000) of wealth.

Contemporary rankings

''Note: The list includes families who, according to reliable sources, have a combined net worth of 1 billion US Dollars and above.''

Historical

Excluding royal dynasties and land-owning

aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t ...

, the wealthiest families since the emergence of

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

and early

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

in the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

were: *The

of bankers became the richest family in the mid-19th century. The family's accumulated wealth has been divided among many descendants, only one of which ( Benjamin de Rothschild) was officially recognized as a billionaire. Determining the family's exact wealth has been deemed implausible; conspiracy theories claiming the family has $350 billion or

s of dollars have not been proven. *The Bardi family of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

(14th century) *The

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

family, as owners of the Medici Bank, the richest family in 15th-century Europe. *The

Gondi family The Florentine banking family of the Gondi were prominent financial partners of the Medici. Unlike the Medici, they were of the old Florentine nobility, tracing their line traditionally from the legendary Philippi, said to have been ennobled by Cha ...

of Florence, financial partners of the Medici family in the 15th century. *The

Fugger The House of Fugger () is a German upper bourgeois family that was historically a prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and vent ...

family of mercantile bankers and venture capitalists, the richest family in the 16th century. *The

Welser Welser was a Germans, German banking and merchant family, originally a patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician family based in Augsburg and Nuremberg, that rose to great prominence in international high finance in the 16th century as bankers t ...

family, alongside the Fugger one of the most important families of merchant bankers in 16th-century Europe. *The Baring family, owners of an important

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodi ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in the 18th to 19th centuries. *The

Schröder family The Schröder family is a Hanseatic family of Hamburg, that is, a family that belonged to the historical ruling class of grand burghers (also known more broadly in English as patricians) of the city republic prior to the constitutional changes in ...

, a leading

Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...

family of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in the 18th to 19th centuries. *The Goldman–Sachs family, owners of the

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

investment bank from 1869 to 1912. *The Venetian noble houses, notably the

Contarini The House of Contarini is one of the founding families of Venicehttps://archive.org/details/teatroaraldicose02tett, Leone Tettoni. ''Teatro araldico ovvero raccolta generale delle armi ed insegne gentilizie delle piu illustri e nobili casate ...

Cornaro The House of Cornaro or Corner are a family in Venice who were patricians in the Republic of Venice and included many Doges and other high officials. The name ''Corner'', originally from the Venetian dialect, was adopted in the eighteenth centu ...

, Dandolo, Giustinian, Loredan,

Mocenigo The House of Mocenigo was a Venice, Venetian noble family of Lombard Dalmatian origin. Many of its members were doge of Venice, doges, politician, statesmen, and soldiers. Notable members * Tommaso Mocenigo (1343-1423), ''doge'' 1414-1423 * P ...

, and

Morosini Morosini is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Morosini family *Piermario Morosini (1986–2012), Italian footballer * Sergio Rossetti Morosini (1953– ), New York author, painter, sculptor and independent filmmaker, ha ...

families, monopolised pre-modern trade while ruling the

Venetian Republic The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

as a mercantile oligarchy.

Notes

References

External links

* Gauri Bhatia
Here's how India's wealthiest families are seeking to stay wealthy
''CNBC'', 18 October 2017 *Simone Foxman
World's Richest Families Seeking to Make More Deals on Their Own
''Bloomberg'', 9 November
The T&C 50: The Richest Families You've Never Heard Of
'' Town & Country'', 17 October 2017, *Kerry A. Dolan and Luisa Kroll
"Billionaire Dynasties"
''Forbes'', 21 June 2001 * Devon Pendleton, Bloomberg
Europe's richest royal gets richer as family bank lures wealthy
''The Register Citizen'', 28 October 2017 * Tom Metcalf and Jack Witzig
World's Wealthiest Became $1 Trillion Richer in 2017
''

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...

'', 27 December 2017 *Kimberley Richards
87 richest families in Canada have 4,000 times more wealth than average family, report says
''Independent'', 1 August 2018 {{Lists of people by net worth, state=collapsed Business families Families

Wealthiest families Various lists of the richest families in the world (excluding royal families or autocratic ruling dynasties) are published internationally, by ''Forbes'' as well as other business magazines. There is a distinction between wealth held by identifia ...