Mexican telecom giant Carlos Slim has topped Forbes magazine's billionaire's list - the first time since 1994 that an American has not led the rankings.

美国福布斯全球富豪排行榜发布，墨西哥通讯巨头卡洛斯·斯利姆成为世界首富，这是自1994年以来首次出现美国人未能引领该排行榜榜首的情况。

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Carlos Slim ended America's 16-year reign on the Rich List

Mr Slim's fortune rose by $18.5bn (£12.4bn) last year to $53.5bn.

That beat Microsoft founder² Bill Gates ($53bn) into second place, with US investor³ Warren Buffett ($43bn) third.

In 2009 332 names left the list after a tough year, but the total number of billionaires on this year's list rose from 793 to 1,011, Forbes said.

A spokesman for Carlos Slim refused to confirm the Forbes estimate of the Mexican tycoon⁴'s wealth, saying they did not "waste their time" on such calculations, but he welcomed the result.

"We're pleased that he has been considered the best businessman of the world," spokesman Arturo Elias told the BBC. "It means there is trust among the investors⁵."

The year's biggest gainer, Brazilian mining tycoon Eike Batista, broke into the top 10 for the first time.

He came in at number seven, having boosting his wealth by $19.5bn to $27bn.

France's Bernard Arnault ($27.5bn), the man behind the world's biggest luxury goods firm LVMH（路易威登） , also moved back into the top 10 and number eight, increasing his fortune by $11bn to $27.5bn.

Their mounting wealth helped to push Ikea's Ingvar Kamprad and Theo Albrecht - one of the men behind Aldi - out of the top 10.

Upturn⁶

In a sign that the global economy could be seeing signs of improvement, the average net worth of the world's billionaires is now $3.5bn, up $500m from last year.

Furthermore, 97 names made their debut⁷ while a record 164 returned to the list in 2010 - including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg ($4bn) who also regained⁸ the title of youngest billionaire.

The news was a far cry from 2009 when the financial crisis took its toll⁹（造成损失） on the world's richest people, wiping 332 names off the list and an average of 23% off the wealth of the remaining billionaires.

Falling stock markets and collapsing¹⁰ commodity prices（商品价格） were blamed. Russia's ultra-rich appear to have recovered from last year's commodity-related losses, however, with 62 billionaires on the 2010 list, compared with 27 last year.