the world's first trillionaire   someone worth a staggering $1,000,000,000,000   could emerge within just 20 years, analysts believe the predictions come as forbes released its billionaires list this week with bill gates   who is widely expected to become the world's first trillionaire   at the top with a worth of $792 billion if the us national wealth continues to grow at its current rate, gates, who saw his fortune grow by $42 billion in the past year alone, could well reach the eye watering figure in his old age among those who believe a trillionaire is only years away, entrepreneur peter diamandis says he believes the wealth could be earned through space discoveries, the washington times reported could he be the first? microsoft's bill gates topped forbes' billionaire list earlier this week and he could well be the first person to become a trillionaire analysts say the first trillionaire could be just 20 years away  1 bill gates   microsoft, $792 bn  2 carlos slim helu    telecoms, $771bn  3 warren buffet   investor, $727bn  4 amancio ortega   zara, $645 bn  5 larry ellison   oracle, $543 bn  6 charles koch   various, $429 bn  6 david koch   various, $429 bn  8 christy walton    walmart, $417 bn  9 jim walton   walmart, $406 bn  10 liliane bettencourt   l'oreal, $401 bn  'i think the first trillionaire is going to be made in space,' he told business insider this week diamandis, an engineer and physician behind companies including space adventures ltd, said individuals and firms finally have the capabilities to explore space for themselves, which could lead to lucrative discoveries among diamandis' own 17 companies, he has teams prospecting near earth asteroids, which he calls 'trillion dollar assets' they represent 'everything we hold of value on earth, minerals, metals, real estate,' he said but he's not the only one who believes bank accounts are set to expand international investment bank credit suisse has previously said in an annual global wealth report that there will be 11 trillionaires within two generations 'two generations ahead, future extrapolation of current wealth growth rates yields almost a billion millionaires, equivalent to 20 per cent of the total adult population,' the bank said in 2013 shooting for the stars: entrepreneur peter diamandis, pictured last month, says he believes the first trillionaire could be made in space, where minerals and real estate are waiting to be claimed  'if this scenario unfolds, then billionaires will be commonplace, and there is likely to be a few trillionaires too, 11 according to our best estimate' in its list this week, forbes  identified a record 1,826 billionaires   up from 1,645 last year   with a combined net worth of $705 trillion gates has topped the list for 16 of the last 21 years in second place was telecom mogul carlos slim helu, who has a net worth of $771 billion third was investor warren buffett, who moved up one slot this year with a net worth of $727 billion they still have a way to go, but among the youngest billionaires, who could well have their eye on that trillion dollar mark, are uber founder travis kalanik, worth $53 billion, rockstar energy drinks founder russ weiner, worth $21 billion, and airbnb founder, brian chesky, worth $2 billion billions: beer heiress tatiana casiraghi  1 mark zuckerberg, 30   facebook, $334bn  2 dustin moskovitz, 30   facebook, $79bn  3 elizabeth holmes, 31   blood testing, $45bn  4 tom persson, 30   h&m, $3bn  5 julio mario santo domingo, iii, 29   bavaria beer, $22bn  6 tatiana casiraghi, 31   bavaria beer, $22bn  7 nathan blecharczyk, 31   airbnb, $19bn  8 anton kathrein jr, 30   antennas, $17bn  9 evan spiegel, 24   snapchat, $15bn  10 bobby murphy, 25   snapchat, $15bn 
the next two decades this week peter diamandis forbes first credit suisse
forbes released its billionaires list this week, raising questions over how far away the world's first trillionaire could be  engineer peter diamandis has predicted the first trillionaire will emerge in the next two decades after making space discoveries  international investment bank credit suisse has said there will be 11 trillionaires within two generations 