The richest people in the world 2012

There are more dollar billionaires than ever before, according to Forbes magazine - 1,226 of them to be exact. More than 50 reporters in 16 countries helped calculate this year’s edition of Forbes’ billionaire report.

Among the 128 new entrants to the list is Sara Blakely, the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at 41, who made it thanks to her Spanx line of underwear.

But it hasn’t been all good news for the super-rich. Almost as many of them lost money as made it in the past year – 441 compared with 460 whose wealth increased to be exact.

Yahoo! Finance takes a look at the 10 richest people in the world along with where the richest Briton ranked, the richest woman and who lost the most cash.

Lakshmi Mittal, who lives in London, lost more money than anyone else in the world in the last year - £6.6bn ($10.4bn) of it – as shares in steelmaker ArcelorMittal collapsed thanks to rising costs and weak demand. He falls out of the top 10 for the first time since 2004.

Gerald Cavendish, the Duke of Westminster, holds on to his title of Britain’s richest man for 2012. In fact his wealth has risen this year as the London property market bucked the national trend and grew. However he only ranked 78th overall.

It’s the 7th year in a row that publicity-shy Christy Walton’s been named the world’s richest woman. Her Wal-Mart fortune did well, rising to be worth £12.7bn, but her investment in First Solar, which makes solar panels, lost her £763m and saw her drop out of the overall top 10.

Aldi has profited as other stores struggle, the mix of good quality and cheap prices (with an ever-changing product line) has seen huge growth, expanding into the US as well as growing in the UK, Australia and Germany. That has led to camera-shy founder Karl Albrecht’s wealth rising to see him become one of the 10 richest people alive.

Li Ka-shing has reclaimed his position as Asia’s richest man after Lakshmi Mittal’s fortune collapsed by £6.6bn. The Hutchison Whampoa chairman makes his first return to the Forbes top 10 since 2007.

H&M’s chairman’s fortune has risen as his high street chic retailer has expanded into more countries and signed names like Versace to its list of designers.

Brazil’s richest man has had a good year, with Eike Batista’s mining and fuel interests soaring as gold and oil prices rocketed.

Business at his tech firm Oracle has been rather up and down over the last year, leading to £2.2bn being knocked off his fortune. Ellison will be hoping his moves into cloud computing can pay off in 2012.

Amancio Ortega, the man who brought us Zara, has had a good year, rising into the top 5 for the first time despite stepping down as chairman of Inditex Group in July.

While the world struggles with an ongoing downturn, the rich don’t seem to notice. As such, sales at Louis Vuitton hit new records and that led to a 22% increase in profits at Bernard Arnault’s company LVHM.

Warren Buffett is the world’s greatest investor – his belief in looking at what companies do rather than what their share price is has paid off handsomely over the years. He’s now working hard at giving his money away, with much of it donated to the Gates Foundation.

It’s been a good year for Microsoft founder Bill Gates, his fortune has risen £3.2bn, Microsoft shares have hit 10-year highs and his foundation has helped wipe out polio in India. Not bad for a university dropout.

Mexican telecoms magnate Carlos Slim Helú has now been named the world’s richest man for three years in a row. But it’s not been a great year for him, his fortune has fallen by £3.2bn.