Forbes magazine has prepared a new list of 200 richest people of Russia. Alisher Usmanov, the founder of Metallinvest, general director of “Gazprominvestkholding” and large share holder of Facebook, tops the list with a fortune of 18.1 billion U.S. dollars.

The overall wealth of these businessmen is about 450 billion U.S. dollars which is less than 50 billion dollars compared to the previous year’s sum. The positions of the leading three richest people have changed too. At present, Alisher Usmanov tops the list. The average age of Russia’s richest people is 50 years. Most of them live in Moscow while 13 live in St. Petersburg. Why did the wealth of the richest Russians fall down by 50 billion U.S. dollars? Here is an opinion from Igor Nikolaev, director of the department of strategic analysis of Finance and Book-keeping Consultants company.

“Forbes magazine’s method of assessment is simple and credible. The assessment of capital is made on the basis of the price of shares owned by businessmen. The share prices are often fluctuating. Last year, they fell. We can’t say that these people have become poorer,” Igor Nikolaev said.

In the world rating, Alisher Usmanov occupies the 28th place surpassing the 28-year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuskerberg who occupies the 35th position. In all, 13 Russian businessmen are among the world financial leaders, one less than last year’s. There are 37 Americans in the world’s richest 100. On the other hand, one of the largest economies, China is represented by one businessman, the creator of the Baidu search engine, Robin Li. He is ranked 86, a progress of nine points compared to past year’s results. Commenting on the modest position of Chinese entrepreneurs on Forbes’ list Dr. Alexander Salitsky had this to say.

“In China, market and capital are developing at a natural pace. No one can earn billions. Such sums can only be thought out. The Chinese economy has not yet reached the stage of big money. Some have honestly earned millions or hundreds of millions. In the number of rich people for every 100,000 people or one million people, the Chinese are honoring the ancient standard which existed during industrial capitalism in Europe,” Alexander Salitsky said.

The 72-year-old Mexican Carlos Slim Helu remains the richest man in the world, for the third consecutive year. His wealth is estimated at 69 billion dollars. He earned this sum by investing money in telecommunications. He has shares in American Movil, Grupo Carso and Telsel.