Lakshmi Mittal
Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal is the Britain's richest person with assets £12,700m Reuters

Ducking the recessionary trends in the economy, the UK's richest have become richer over the past year, reveals the Annual Sunday Times Rich List.

The new list includes a total of 1,000 wealthiest people with an accumulated wealth of is £414bn, a rise of 4.7 per cent from 2011 and a record since the beginning of the survey which is in the 24th year now.

The newspaper's 2012 Rich List has 77 billionaires, a new record and includes two more billionaires than the previous record of 75 in 2008.

Indian-born steel magnate and ArcelorMittal CEO, Lakshmi Mittal remains the UK's richest man for the eighth consecutive year with a combined wealth of £12.7bn.

Mittal, 61, retained the position despite a 27 per cent decline in his wealth because of a drop in the share prices of his company, Arcelor Mittal, the largest steel maker in the world.
He has been in the top position since 2005.

The second and third positions are taken by Uzbek-born billionaire Alisher Usmanov and the Russian investor Roman Abramovich respectively.

Usmanov owns 30 per cent of the Arsenal football club whereas Abramovich is the owner of the rival club Chelsea.

The richest British-born billionaire was the Duke of Wellington with a fortune of £7.35bn.

The 2012 list required £72 m for an individual to make an entry into the top 1000 list which is £2 m more than what is required in 2011.

The richest woman in the list is the former beauty queen "Miss UK," Kirsty Bertarelli, who shares a £7.4 bn fortune with her husband Ernesto, a Swiss-Italian entrepreneur.

The youngest entry in the list this year is Andrey Andreev, the London-based Russian businessman, the owner of online dating site Badoo. His fortunes are worth £500 m.

The top ten wealthiest Britons in the Sunday Times Rich List are:

  • Lakshmi Mittal and family - £12.7bn.
  • Alisher Usmanov - £12.3bn.
  • Roman Abramovich - £9.5bn.
  • Sri and Gopi Hinduja - £8.6bn.
  • Leonard Blavatnik - £7.58bn.
  • Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli - £7.4bn.
  • The Duke of Westminster - £7.35bn.
  • David and Simon Reuben - £7.08bn.
  • John Fredriksen and family - £6.6bn.

• Galen and George Weston and family - £5.9bn.

The annual rich list is compiled taking into account an individual's wealth such as land, property and investments in art, shares in listed companies, racehorses etc. It does not include one's bank accounts.

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