Mexican Telecom titan Carlos Slim Helu took the title of the world's richest person from Bill Gates' pocket, and became the first non-U.S. billionaire to claim the spot in 16 years.

Mexican Telecom titan Carlos Slim Helu. [Xinhua]

Same three, different order

In the Forbes Magazine's 2010 billionaire list, which was announced in New York on Wednesday, Helu and his family knocked Gates out of the leading post with a total net worth of 53.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Helu ranked the third in the 2009 rankings. His rise has marked the first time since 1994 that the number one position is held by a non-U.S. billionaire. Japanese had occupied the top spot before giving it up to the Microsoft founder Gates in 1994.

Gates, last year's richest man, fell to the second by 500 million dollars less than Helu. Master investor Warren Buffett, whose net worth increased by 10 billion to 47 billion benefiting from a price hike in his Berkshire Hathaway shares, dropped from the second to the third.

Collectively, these three members of the Forbes list have gained 41.5 billion dollars over the past year. During the financial crisis from 2008 to 2009, these three had lost a collective 68 billion dollars.

Recovery in economy and wealth

March 10 marked the anniversary of the U.S. equity market's bull rally starting point. Ever since then, Dow and S&P have recovered more than 60 percent, while tech-heavy Nasdaq has jumped more than 84 percent.

With the help of monetary and fiscal stimulus measures taken by central banks and governments around the globe, the world economy has managed to walk out of the worst recession in decades.

"The global economy is recovering, and is reflected in what you see in this year's list," Steve Forbes, chairman, CEO and editor- in-chief of the Forbes Magazine, said at a press conference.

The total net worth of the 2010 list reached 3.6 trillion, 50 percent up from the 2.4 trillion in 2009, and the number of billionaires has soared from 793 last year to 1,011 this year. Moreover, those billionaires' average worth was up 500 million dollars to 3.5 billion dollars.

Thanks to the recovery of the financial market, 164 people who fell out of last year's list made a return this year. The 2010 list also boasts 97 new billionaires, representing 22 countries.

Emerging markets shine

The bright spot of the 2010 billionaire ranking was the strong presence of emerging economies. Among the top ten richest list, four are from developing countries. Besides the Mexican at the first place, two Indian tycoons took the fourth and fifth spots with wealth gathered from petrochemicals, oil & gas and steel business.

Brazilian mining and oil titan Eike Batista not only cracked the top ten for the first time, but also became the biggest gainer with his net worth up 19.5 billion dollars since last year.

Among this year's newcomers, 62 made their debut from Asia, "a region that saw swelling stock markets and several large public offerings during the past year," as pointed out by the Forbes Magazine.

Asia now trails Europe in total number of billionaires by only 14, and for the first time the Chinese mainland has the most billionaires outside the United States, with 64, followed by Russia with 62.