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.
