Top 10 Richest People in History (Inflation-Adjusted)

Gaius Octavius Augustus (63 BC-14 AD), the first Roman Emperor, controlled an estimated 25-30% of the entire world's GDP — a share of global economic output no individual or corporation has come close to matching before or since. His personal fortune has been estimated at $4.6 trillion in modern equivalent terms, encompassing the wealth of Egypt (which he treated as a personal estate), vast provincial revenues, and the accumulated spoils of conquest across three continents. Beyond personal wealth, he owned outright the infrastructure, mines, and agricultural output of an empire spanning from Britain to Mesopotamia.

John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) was the first person in history to officially become a billionaire, and his inflation-adjusted fortune of approximately $400 billion makes him the wealthiest American who ever lived. At the height of Standard Oil's dominance he controlled 90% of all US oil refining — a monopoly so complete that it triggered the Sherman Antitrust Act and the eventual Supreme Court-ordered breakup of his company in 1911. He gave away over $500 million in his lifetime to universities, medicine, and public health, making him also one of history's greatest philanthropists.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) sold Carnegie Steel in 1901 for $480 million — equivalent to roughly $310 billion today — a sum that at the time represented approximately 2.1% of US GDP. Born in a one-room weaver's cottage in Scotland and emigrating to America at age 13, he built a steel empire that supplied 25% of the nation's output and underpinned the rapid industrialisation of the Gilded Age. True to his "Gospel of Wealth" philosophy, he gave away over 90% of his fortune, funding 2,509 public libraries, universities, and research institutions that still bear his name.

Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918), held a personal fortune estimated at $300 billion in today's money as the last emperor of the Russian Empire — the largest contiguous land empire in history, spanning one-sixth of the Earth's surface. The Romanov dynasty's wealth included palaces, oil fields, mines, and vast agricultural estates; Nicholas personally owned assets across Russia, Finland, and Poland that no modern individual monarch comes close to matching. Deposed during the February Revolution of 1917 and executed with his family in 1918, much of the imperial wealth was nationalised by the Bolsheviks or scattered across Europe.

Mir Osman Ali Khan (1886-1967), the last Nizam of Hyderabad and the wealthiest person in the world as recently as 1940 (when he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine), held a fortune equivalent to roughly $230 billion in today's dollars. His legendary wealth included the Jacob Diamond — one of the world's largest at 184.97 carats — which he reportedly used as a paperweight, alongside a treasury filled with loose gems, gold bars, and currency. As ruler of the most productive state in colonial India, his dominion over Hyderabad's cotton, coal, and goldmines placed him in a category of wealth that no other 20th-century ruler matched.

William I of England (c. 1028-1087) was, in the most literal sense, the richest person in the medieval world — he owned all of England outright after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Following his victory at the Battle of Hastings, William conducted the Domesday Book survey (1086), the most comprehensive census of wealth in medieval history, which documented that he personally held approximately 17% of England's land directly as crown demesne and controlled the remaining 83% via feudal obligation. Adjusted for his share of national wealth, historians estimate his fortune at the equivalent of $229 billion today.

Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011), the Libyan dictator who ruled for 42 years, accumulated a hidden personal fortune estimated at $200 billion — a figure only revealed in full after his death during the Arab Spring. Investigators found assets including sovereign wealth funds, real estate in 33 countries, gold and cash hoards hidden across Libyan infrastructure, and stakes in international companies registered through shell corporations. Unlike other dictators who siphoned state wealth, Gaddafi's control of Libyan oil revenues effectively blurred the line between his personal fortune and the Libyan state's entire financial apparatus.

Jakob Fugger "the Rich" (1459-1525) was the most powerful banker of the Renaissance and the first true financial capitalist in history, with a fortune estimated at $277 billion in today's money — representing approximately 2% of European GDP at his death. His banking house, based in Augsburg, financed the Habsburg emperors, the papacy, and the election of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1519 — a transaction that literally bought a crown. Fugger controlled the copper and silver mines of Central Europe, operated Europe's first multinational corporation, and pioneered financial instruments including double-entry bookkeeping systems that still underpin modern accounting.

Elon Musk (born 1971) became the first person in recorded history to surpass a $300 billion personal net worth, briefly hitting that threshold in November 2021, and holds the record for both the largest personal fortune ever accumulated and the single largest one-day wealth gain ($36.2 billion on 26 October 2021). Unlike every other figure on this list, his wealth derives not from sovereign power or inheritance but from founding and equity stakes in Tesla, SpaceX, and X — companies he built from near-bankruptcy. His peak fortune of approximately $340 billion places him among the top five wealthiest individuals in all of recorded human history on an inflation-adjusted basis.

Gaius Octavius Augustus (63 BC-14 AD), the first Roman Emperor, controlled an estimated 25-30% of the entire world's GDP — a share of global economic output no individual or corporation has come close to matching before or since. His personal fortune has been estimated at $4.6 trillion in modern equivalent terms, encompassing the wealth of Egypt (which he treated as a personal estate), vast provincial revenues, and the accumulated spoils of conquest across three continents. Beyond personal wealth, he owned outright the infrastructure, mines, and agricultural output of an empire spanning from Britain to Mesopotamia.

John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) was the first person in history to officially become a billionaire, and his inflation-adjusted fortune of approximately $400 billion makes him the wealthiest American who ever lived. At the height of Standard Oil's dominance he controlled 90% of all US oil refining — a monopoly so complete that it triggered the Sherman Antitrust Act and the eventual Supreme Court-ordered breakup of his company in 1911. He gave away over $500 million in his lifetime to universities, medicine, and public health, making him also one of history's greatest philanthropists.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) sold Carnegie Steel in 1901 for $480 million — equivalent to roughly $310 billion today — a sum that at the time represented approximately 2.1% of US GDP. Born in a one-room weaver's cottage in Scotland and emigrating to America at age 13, he built a steel empire that supplied 25% of the nation's output and underpinned the rapid industrialisation of the Gilded Age. True to his "Gospel of Wealth" philosophy, he gave away over 90% of his fortune, funding 2,509 public libraries, universities, and research institutions that still bear his name.

Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918), held a personal fortune estimated at $300 billion in today's money as the last emperor of the Russian Empire — the largest contiguous land empire in history, spanning one-sixth of the Earth's surface. The Romanov dynasty's wealth included palaces, oil fields, mines, and vast agricultural estates; Nicholas personally owned assets across Russia, Finland, and Poland that no modern individual monarch comes close to matching. Deposed during the February Revolution of 1917 and executed with his family in 1918, much of the imperial wealth was nationalised by the Bolsheviks or scattered across Europe.

Mir Osman Ali Khan (1886-1967), the last Nizam of Hyderabad and the wealthiest person in the world as recently as 1940 (when he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine), held a fortune equivalent to roughly $230 billion in today's dollars. His legendary wealth included the Jacob Diamond — one of the world's largest at 184.97 carats — which he reportedly used as a paperweight, alongside a treasury filled with loose gems, gold bars, and currency. As ruler of the most productive state in colonial India, his dominion over Hyderabad's cotton, coal, and goldmines placed him in a category of wealth that no other 20th-century ruler matched.

William I of England (c. 1028-1087) was, in the most literal sense, the richest person in the medieval world — he owned all of England outright after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Following his victory at the Battle of Hastings, William conducted the Domesday Book survey (1086), the most comprehensive census of wealth in medieval history, which documented that he personally held approximately 17% of England's land directly as crown demesne and controlled the remaining 83% via feudal obligation. Adjusted for his share of national wealth, historians estimate his fortune at the equivalent of $229 billion today.

Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011), the Libyan dictator who ruled for 42 years, accumulated a hidden personal fortune estimated at $200 billion — a figure only revealed in full after his death during the Arab Spring. Investigators found assets including sovereign wealth funds, real estate in 33 countries, gold and cash hoards hidden across Libyan infrastructure, and stakes in international companies registered through shell corporations. Unlike other dictators who siphoned state wealth, Gaddafi's control of Libyan oil revenues effectively blurred the line between his personal fortune and the Libyan state's entire financial apparatus.

Jakob Fugger "the Rich" (1459-1525) was the most powerful banker of the Renaissance and the first true financial capitalist in history, with a fortune estimated at $277 billion in today's money — representing approximately 2% of European GDP at his death. His banking house, based in Augsburg, financed the Habsburg emperors, the papacy, and the election of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1519 — a transaction that literally bought a crown. Fugger controlled the copper and silver mines of Central Europe, operated Europe's first multinational corporation, and pioneered financial instruments including double-entry bookkeeping systems that still underpin modern accounting.

Elon Musk (born 1971) became the first person in recorded history to surpass a $300 billion personal net worth, briefly hitting that threshold in November 2021, and holds the record for both the largest personal fortune ever accumulated and the single largest one-day wealth gain ($36.2 billion on 26 October 2021). Unlike every other figure on this list, his wealth derives not from sovereign power or inheritance but from founding and equity stakes in Tesla, SpaceX, and X — companies he built from near-bankruptcy. His peak fortune of approximately $340 billion places him among the top five wealthiest individuals in all of recorded human history on an inflation-adjusted basis.