Forbes Middle East Reveals the World's Richest Arabs 2026: Gulf Economies Dominate
Forbes Middle East has released its 2026 list of the "World's Richest Arabs," confirming the overwhelming dominance of Gulf economies and a few prominent regional business families. A total of 36 billionaires from seven countries have a combined wealth of $137.3 billion, a 7% increase from 2025. Tunisia, once again, is not featured in this list, which only includes the largest Arab fortunes identified by Forbes.
Top 10 Richest Arabs:
- Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud (Saudi Arabia) - $19.9 billion
- Hussain Sajwani (DAMAC Properties) (UAE) - $15.3 billion
- Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib (Saudi Arabia) - $13.4 billion
The remaining top 10 highlights the diversity of dominant sectors in the region:
- Nassef Sawiris (Egypt) - $9.6 billion
- Naguib Sawiris (Egypt)
- Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (Qatar)
- Abdulla Al Futtaim & family (UAE)
- Abdulla bin Ahmad Al Ghurair & family
- Mohamed Mansour (Egypt)
- Najib Mikati and Taha Mikati (Lebanon)
The ranking also shows a strong geographical concentration: Saudi Arabia has 11 billionaires with a combined wealth of $49 billion, followed by the UAE ($35.4 billion), Egypt ($23.8 billion), and Lebanon ($13.9 billion). Morocco, Qatar, and Algeria complete the list with more limited representation.
Key Takeaways:
- The number of Arab billionaires has decreased slightly (36 in 2026 vs. 39 in 2025), but their overall wealth has increased, illustrating a phenomenon of concentration of large fortunes among a limited number of family groups and regional conglomerates.
- No Tunisian businessman or group is featured in this 2026 ranking, confirming Tunisia's absence from the list of largest Arab fortunes identified by Forbes Middle East. This situation reflects the low weight of Tunisian fortunes in international rankings of high net worth.
