US, China account for more than half of world's billionaire-producing universities

A study by an education analytics publisher has found that the United States and China dominate the world's billionaire education pipeline, accounting for more than half of all universities attended by billionaires.

The report, produced by Essay Humanizer, now rebranded as Humanize AI, analyzed 3,184 billionaires and reviewed publicly available data on their educational backgrounds.

It found that education records were fully identified for 78.91% of individuals, while 21.09% had incomplete or unavailable information.

Universities were included in the dataset if at least one billionaire had graduated from them. Researchers also grouped academic qualifications into broad disciplines, including Business and Economics, Engineering, and Computer Science.

Students gather on the steps of Widener Library for a group photo on their first day at Harvard University. Photo courtesy of the university

The United States ranked first by a wide margin, with 195 universities linked to billionaire alumni, representing nearly 39.5% of all institutions in the study.

China ranked second with 59 universities linked to billionaire graduates, accounting for nearly 12% of the global total.

The study attributes China's strong performance to rapid growth in sectors such as technology, e-commerce, manufacturing, and finance, supported by its large domestic market.

Together, the United States and China account for 51.43% of all billionaire-producing universities worldwide.

Harvard stands out globally with a record 134 billionaire alumni. Their combined fortune of US$1.235 trillion makes up over 9% of the global total, which means almost a tenth of all billionaire wealth is tied to Harvard graduates.

The U.S.'s University of Maryland ranked 54th globally in terms of the number of billionair alumni but it tops in average billionaire wealth, at $34.34 billion, surpassing Harvard's average of $9.2 billion.

Rank

Universities

Country

Number of billionaires

Total net worth

Percentage of wealth

1

Harvard University

United States

134

$1.235T

9.09%

2

Stanford University

United States

86

$1.208T

8.90%

3

University of Pennsylvania

United States

63

$1.093T

8.05%

4

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

United States

39

$231.7B

1.71%

5

Zhejiang University

China

36

$152.3B

1.12%

6

Columbia University

United States

35

$327.7B

2.41%

7

Moscow State University

Russia

34

$124.3B

0.92%

8

University of Southern California

United States

33

$138.0B

1.02%

9

Yale University

United States

31

$214.6B

1.58%

10

University of Mumbai

India

31

$232.6B

1.71%

11

Tsinghua University

China

30

$110.9B

0.82%

12

New York University

United States

23

$189.1B

1.39%

13

Princeton University

United States

22

$356.1B

2.62%

14

Peking University

China

22

$132.7B

0.98%

15

University of London

United Kingdom

21

$108.9B

0.80%

16

University of California, Berkeley

United States

20

$153.3B

1.13%

17

University of Chicago

United States

20

$278.9B

2.05%

18

University of Oxford

United Kingdom

20

$87.7B

0.65%

19

University of Delhi

India

20

$66.5B

0.49%

20

Cornell University

United States

18

$67.2B

0.49%

India placed third with 29 universities, representing over 6% of the global share. The report notes that wealth creation in India is often driven by long-established family businesses and multi-generational ownership structures.

The study also highlights clear educational patterns among billionaires. More than 35% hold degrees in Business and Economics, making it the most common field of study. Engineering ranks second at 13.63%, while Computer Science accounts for a smaller share.

Nearly half of all billionaires surveyed, about 1,445 individuals, come from just 100 universities worldwide. These institutions collectively account for 80.78% of global billionaire wealth, estimated at $13.58 trillion.