[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

What do these five people have in common?

They all made the World's 200 Richest People list.

Wealth is alive and well.  Just ask any of 200 people whose net worth totals $2.7 trillion, about the size of the gross domestic product of France, the 5th-biggest economy on the planet.  The presence of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates is no surprise, nor are Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

However, the inaugural list, featured in Bloomberg Markets' December 2012 issue also brings to the fore relative unknowns like Amancio Ortega, 76.  The Spanish native who founded Inditex SA, the world’s largest clothing retailer.  The store, which is known for its more than 1,600 trendy Zara stores, made more than $18 billion from the start of the year through Oct. 5 – or about $66 million a day.

Other relatively unknown billionaires include:

• Stefan Persson, the largest shareholder in Swedish clothing giant Hennes & Mauritz AB.
• Dirce Navarro de Camargo of Brazil inherited her late husband’s industrial conglomerate, Camargo Correa SA, in 1994
• Elaine Tettemer Marshall controls 15 percent of Koch Industries Inc., the second-largest closely held company in the U.S
• Gina Rinehart, the richest woman in the Asia-Pacific region. She's squabbling with her children over the family’s $19.1 billion minerals empire
• Zong Qinghou as mainland China’s richest man, who had a net worth of $20.1 billion on 10/5/12, who runs the Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. beverage empire

Here are the Top 10, including their net worth, how they made the list, and where they hail from.  Figures and percentages are as of 10/5/12; ages as of 12/1/12.

1. Carlos Slim
Net worth: $77.5 billion
YTD change: + $15.6 billion / + 25.3%
Source of wealth: America Movil
Industry: Telecommunications
Citizenship: Mexico
Age: 72

2. Bill Gates
Net worth: $64.4 billion
YTD change: + $8.7 billion / + 15.7%
Source of wealth: Microsoft
Industry: Technology
Citizenship: U.S.
Age: 57

3. Amancio Ortega
Net worth: $53.6 billion
YTD change: + $18.4 billion / + 52.1%
Source of wealth: Inditex
Industry: Retail
Citizenship: Spain
Age: 76

4. Warren Buffett
Net worth: $48.4 billion
YTD change: + $5.7 billion / + 13.2%
Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
Industry: Finance
Citizenship: U.S.
Age: 82

5. Ingvar Kamprad
Net worth: $41.8 billion
YTD change: + $5.0 billion / + 13.7%
Source of wealth: IKEA
Industry: Retail
Citizenship: Sweden
Age: 86

6. Charles Koch
Net worth: $38.6 billion
YTD change: + $4.8 billion / + 14.1%
Source of wealth: Koch Industries
Industry: Diversified
Citizenship: U.S.
Age: 77

7. David Koch
Net worth: $38.6 billion
YTD change: + $4.8 billion / + 14.1%
Source of wealth: Koch Industries
Industry: Diversified
Citizenship: U.S.
Age: 72

8. Larry Ellison
Net worth: $37.2 billion
YTD change: $4.2 billion / + 12.8%
Source of wealth: Oracle
Industry: Technology
Citizenship: U.S.
Age: 68

9. Christy Walton
Net worth: $30.5 billion
YTD change: + $5.4 billion / + 21.4%
Source of wealth: Wal-Mart Stores
Industry: Retail
Citizenship: U.S.
Age: 57

10. Jim Walton
Net worth: $29.3 billion
YTD change: + $5.8 billion / + 24.7%
Source of wealth: Wal-Mart Stores
Industry: Retail
Citizenship: U.S.
Age: 64

For more details of the methodology and the complete list, go to [Bloomberg, 11/1/12].