The world's richest people saw their personal wealth jump by almost 20 per cent last year, according to a survey by top US investment bank Merrill Lynch.

The increase in wealth was driven by a 37 per cent rise in the value of the world's stock markets, an explosion of technology and the increasing number of Internet multimillionaires. A report by the bank and Gemini Consulting said the world's rich - defined as people worth more than a million dollars (€1,103,631) - saw their fortunes rise in value by 18 per cent last year. The report also highlights a boom in the number of super-rich - those with assets worth $30 million (£26 million) or more.

Thanks partly to the creation of dot.com millionaires and other technology entrepreneurs, there are now an estimated 55,000 people who are considered superrich. Between them, this elite own assets worth $7.9 trillion. The US and Europe led the wealth stakes with 2.5 million dollar millionaires in the US and 2.2 million in Europe. But Asia is fast catching up, with 1.7 million dollar millionaires.