The growth of the economy translated last year into the lowest level of household and business debt in 25 years. And, on the other hand, household financial wealth, resulting from the difference between assets held and debts, reached a record of 2.645 trillion euros, representing 156.8% of GDP, compared to the average of 149.1% since 2022, according to data from the financial accounts of the Spanish economy published by the Bank of Spain.

Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex, is back on the list Forbes of the 10 richest people in the world. Her fortune is valued at $148 billion, according to the latest update of the billionaires list published by the magazine.

Spain's billionaires—the wealthiest people—earned an average of 77 million euros a day last year. This amount is equivalent to the earnings of one million workers. This is according to Oxfam Intermón's traditional report on inequality, published annually just before the start of the Davos summit.

Catalonia has a problem that has been identified for some time. And it's not that they do little or bad work: according to the latest regional accounting data from the INE, Productivity growth per hour worked in Catalonia is above the Spanish average and, especially, above that of the Community of Madrid. This trend is largely due to the greater weight of industry, which contributes more added value, investment, and exports than in Madrid, where services are even more prevalent. In any case, the Spanish capital leads in average salaries, due to the high concentration of headquarters of large companies and, therefore, of well-paid managers and executives. But the real problem is wealth redistribution: Madrid leads the way—the capital city effect plays a significant role—with a larger share of the wealth per capita. The second and third positions are occupied by two regions with their own financing models: the Basque Country, which also has a large industrial sector, and Navarre. The solution? There isn't a single one, but some could include reviving initiatives such as the pact to increase the weight of industry, given the advantages this activity provides to the economy as a whole; Promoting the creation of larger or more technologically advanced companies (more value and higher wages) and a regional funding model that, while perhaps not unique, is certainly fairer. Little...

Currently, the leading Spanish company by market capitalization, far ahead of the second, is Inditex. Its largest shareholder, Amancio Ortega, is the richest person in Spain and consistently appears on lists of the world's wealthiest individuals. He is now the ninth richest person in the world and the second richest in Europe, although at times he has even been the world's richest. Fifty years ago, Inditex didn't exist, and Amancio Ortega had no fortune whatsoever. This is the most dramatic transformation in the Spanish business world. No other fortune even comes close. The second richest, ten times smaller, belongs to his daughter. Following her are Rafael del Pino (Ferrovial) and Juan Roig (Mercadona).

Matadepera is the municipality in Spain with the second highest net income per capita (€26,729), behind only Pozuelo de Alarcón in Madrid, with €30,524 per capita, and ahead of Boadilla del Monte, also in Madrid, with €26,668 per capita. These are 2023 data published this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute. And despite the fact that the Community of Madrid occupies two places on the podium, the fact is that among the 15 municipalities in Spain with the highest net income per capita, there are eight Catalan ones (all in the province of Barcelona), while only five are in Madrid.

It's not a bad thing for some people to be rich, especially if their fortune was hard-earned, legally acquired, or inherited. None of these circumstances is a crime or something to be rejected. The fact that some people have quite a bit or much more than others isn't essentially negative. The point is that there are minimum standards that guarantee a decent life for everyone in society, that what is known as the social elevator works.

Becoming a millionaire is no easy task. It requires dedication and effort, and sometimes even crossing the line. That's what some of the world's millionaires have done. But not all of them are self-made; that is, not all of them are what we call self-made men either self-made women, although there are differences between countries.

Things are going well for the richest. Much more so than for the rest, although global poverty is declining worldwide due to economic growth, although the COVID crisis halted this trend. And, at the same time, inequality is growing, not so much between countries but within them, with an ever-widening gap in societies between those who have the most and those who have the least. The richest 1% have stabilized their share of global wealth at around 40%, below the levels of the neoliberal policies inaugurated by Ronald Reagan in the US and Margaret Thatcher in the UK during the period from 1980 to the mid-2000s, a period in which they became the owners.

For the first time, the number of billionaires worldwide (people with net worths of more than $1 billion) has surpassed 3,000. This is happening in a context of growth that has caused the richest 1% of the world's population to lose a small portion of their wealth. At the same time, poverty has decreased globally in recent years, but the COVID crisis halted this trend and has increased economic and social inequality within some countries. In this dossier, we review the list of the richest people by continent and examine which ones are richer by inheritance and which ones by their own merits.

The net wealth of Spanish households grew by 8.1% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period a year ago, reaching €2.4 trillion, according to financial accounts published by the Bank of Spain. The same report shows a moderation in household debt, reaching 43.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), its lowest level since the first quarter of 2000.

Spain lost millionaires last year, dropping from 250,600 to 246,600, but the wealth of those who are part of this select club continued to grow. These are some of the report's conclusions. Global Wealth 2025, published by the consulting firm Capgemini.

Sant Just Desvern, in Baix Llobregat, and Montferrer and Castellbò, in Alt Urgell, were the municipalities with the highest and lowest household incomes in Catalonia in 2022, respectively, according to data published this Wednesday by Idescat, the statistical agency of the Generalitat (Catalan Government). The difference between the incomes of both municipalities was 144%, meaning that the average household income in the richest municipality is double that of the poorest. At the regional level, Barcelona and the regions of the metropolitan region of the Catalan capital once again occupied the top positions in per capita income.

A couple of weeks ago Marlene Engelhorn started making the headlines. Most of them were from Spanish and Italian media, so she had to resort to Google Translate to find out why her name was suddenly getting so much attention in southern Europe. "29-year-old rejects €4bn inheritance: why?", "The heiress who rejected €4bn: 'I don't want to be so rich'", "The young woman who renounces to an inheritance of over €4bn because she doesn't want to be so rich". None of these three statements, however, is true.

Sant Cugat del Vallès is the Catalan municipality of over 20,000 inhabitants with the highest average net income per capita (€20,582) according to the list released this Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics. Thus, the city is placed third in the Spanish ranking, only behind the Madrid towns of Pozuelo de Alarcón (€28,326) and Boadilla del Monte (€21,795). Sant Cugat climbs one place in the INE ranking, as last year it was in fourth (€19,591) behind Pozuelo, Getxo and Boadilla. This year, Sant Quirze del Vallès has also made the list of the 50 Spanish municipalities with highest income per capita.