विश्व के 100 सर्वाधिक धनी व्यक्तियों की सूची

यह विश्व के 100 सर्वाधिक धनी व्यक्तियों की सूची  दिनांक ११ फरवरी २००८ को, प्रत्येक व्यक्ति की कुल संपत्ति के मूल्य पर आधारित है। The total net worth is an estimate measured in United States dollars, based on the closing stock prices of the stock exchanges on which each person's company is listed, and exchange rates on February 11, 2008. Stock prices are defined as shares of ownership in a corporation, and exchange rates are defined as how much one currency is worth in terms of another. This list only represents each person's valuation on a single day due to daily fluctuations among exchange rates and stock valuations. The list does not include heads of state whose wealth is tied to their position (see list of heads of government and state by net worth).



Top billionaires 
The following list is the ranking of the world's richest billionaires on February 11 2008, and does not reflect changes since that date. The top three countries with the most billionaires are: United States with over 400, Russia with 87, and India and Germany with 56 each.

Notable-mentions (Claims of being less-known billionaires) 
Notable-mentions lists those people who have been claimed by credible sources to possess fortunes to the tunes of multi-millions and billions but claims which have not directly been endorsed by Forbes. These claims are well-referenced and credible. This list is necessary because it is appropriate neither for Wikipedia nor for others to depend on a single-source (Forbes) to estimate the richest people in the world.

Government figures

Vladimir Putin 

Former State Duma Speaker Ivan Rybkin claimed that President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, "is the biggest oligarch in Russia" and that Russian businessmen Gennady Timchenko, Mikhail Kovalchuk, Yuriy Kovalchuk, and Roman Abramovich are "looking after Putin's business interests and swallowing up a vast share of the nation's financial flows". Such claims have been supported later by Russian political insider Stanislav Belkovsky

. Economist Anders Åslund, author of "Russia's Capitalist Revolution", described this story in his Moscow Times article:
"Everybody around Putin is completely corrupt, but many think that the president himself is honest. In February 2004, presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin named three men as Putin's bagmen, including Gennady Timchenko, the co-founder of the Gunvor oil-trading company. After Rybkin made this statement, he vanished from the political stage. In September, the Polish magazine Wprost wrote that Timchenko, a former KGB officer and member of Putin's dacha cooperative in St. Petersburg, has a net worth of $20 billion. Officially, Timchenko sells the oil of four Russian oil companies, but how are the prices determined to generate such profits?

In a sensational interview in Germany's Die Welt on Nov. 12, Stanislav Belkovsky, the well-connected insider who initiated the Kremlin campaign against Yukos in 2003, made specific claims about Putin's wealth. He alleged that Putin owned 37 percent of Surgutneftegaz (worth $18 billion), 4.5 percent of Gazprom ($13 billion) and half of Timchenko's company, Gunvor (possibly $10 billion). If this information is true, Putin's total personal fortune would amount to no less than $41 billion, placing him among the 10 richest in the world."

When asked at a press conference on February 14, 2008 if these allegations were true, Putin was quoted as saying the following in response: "This is true. I am the richest person not only in Europe, but also in the world. I collect emotions. And I am rich in that respect that the people of Russia have twice entrusted me with leadership of such a great country as Russia. I consider this to be my biggest fortune. As for the rumors concerning my financial wealth, I have seen some pieces of paper regarding this. This is plain chatter."

References 
General
 

Specific

External links 
 The 400 Richest Americans (2007)
 Sunday Times Rich List 2007 - 1000 Britain's richest 1,000
 India's 40 Richest (2007)
 Greater China's 40 Richest (2007)
 The 100 Richest Russians (2004)

Lists of people by wealth

en:Forbes list of billionaires#2008 Top 10