Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Photo: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

Bill Gates has returned to the top of Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s richest people, as rising stock markets swelled the ranks of billionaires, which included a record number of women.

With a net worth of $76 billion, the Microsoft Corp. co-founder reclaimed the top spot after a four-year hiatus, toppling Mexico’s telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who placed second at $72 billion, Forbes said in announcing the list.

Amancio Ortega, the Spanish founder of clothing conglomerate Inditex SA, which includes the Zara fashion chain, ranked third at $64 billion. Investing icon Warren Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and is a frequent bridge partner for Gates, was fourth at $58.2 billion. Oracle Corp. chief Larry Ellison came in fifth at $48 billion.

The internet was well-represented

Gates has topped the list in 15 of the last 20 years.

A record 1,645 billionaires with a total net worth of $6.4 trillion made Forbes’ list, up from 1,426 last year.

Just over 10 per cent were female, with 172 women compared with 138 a year earlier.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. heiress Christy Walton was the highest-ranking woman, in ninth place, at $36.7 billion. France’s Liliane Bettencourt, who got much of her wealth from cosmetics company L’Oreal SA, was next among women at $34.5 billion, and ranked 11th.

The internet was well-represented. Google Inc. founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin ranked 17th and 19th, worth a respective $32.3 billion and $31.8 billion, while Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos was between them at $32 billion.

Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg, 29, more than doubled his net worth to $28.5 billion, and ranked 21st.

Forbes said the year’s biggest loser was Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, whose net worth fell below $300 million from $10.6 billion as his oil and natural resources empire collapsed amid too much debt and falling output.

Roughly two-thirds of the world’s billionaires, or 1,080, were self-made. The US had the most, with 492, followed by China at 152 and Russia at 111. Algeria, Lithuania, Tanzania and Uganda joined the list with one each.