Africa is home to far more billionaires than previously thought, as a decade-long period of intense economic growth fills the pockets of local businessman, according to the most comprehensive survey of wealth in the continent.

The Ventures magazine African billionaire roll, published on Monday, lists 55 people with fortunes of more than $1bn, up from previous estimates of 16-25 billionaires. Most of the super-rich live in Nigeria and South Africa.

The surge in energy prices over the last decade, with oil jumping from $20 a barrel in early 2000 to more than $100 a barrel nowadays, has also contributed to the increase of billionaires in hydrocarbons-rich countries.

The new lists puts Africa at par with Latin America, which Forbes magazine said this year was home to 51 super-rich. Asia is home to 399 billionaires. The lists published by Forbes, which has been compiling lists of the most wealthy for years, and Ventures magazines are not directly comparable, however.

The richest person in Africa is Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian businessman involved in cement, food, oil and other sectors with an estimated personal fortune of more than $20bn. Allan Gray, the publicity-shy South African financier, is the second richest, with assets worth at least $8.5bn. Mike Adenuga, a Nigerian involved in the oil and telecoms industries, has an estimated fortune of $8bn, according to Ventures.

Given the difficulties involved in calculating the wealth of many of Africa’s top businessmen and their families, analysts say the Venture lists probably still seriously understates the true number of super-rich Africans. Chi-Chi Okonjo, founder of Ventures, said that the real number of billionaires in countries such as Nigeria was probably “double” the current estimate. “I am sure there are more billionaires than those 55, but discussing wealth is still taboo in Africa”.

The publication of the new list, which puts the fortune of Africa’s 55 billionaires at nearly $145bn, will probably reignite the debate about the inequality of the recent period of economic growth in Africa. Although the continent has experienced a notable expansion, with growth averaging above 5 per cent per year since 2000, many Africans say they feel as poor as a decade ago.

The Afrobarometer survey, which polled more than 50,000 people in 34 African countries, suggested earlier this month that much of the recent strong economic growth in Africa is only benefiting a small elite. “Despite high reported growth rates, poverty at the grassroots remains little changed,” the authors of the survey said. “In fact, income inequality may be worsening.”

Nonetheless, official statistics reflect an improvement, with the emergence of a tiny middle class across Africa. The World Bank estimates that the number of Africans living below the poverty line – measured as $1.25 per day – had fallen significantly because of strong economic growth, dropping to 48.5 per cent in 2010, down from 58 per cent in 1999. At the same time, the number of those living with $10-$20 a day – which economists call a “consumer class” or “working class”, has increased substantially over the last decade.

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