The year 2011 was marked by the heightened financial difficulties in Europe, which inevitably affected the rest of the world but Forbes said on Wednesday that prevailing economic challenges still produced quite a number of new billionaires.

"In a year of churn and burn, 128 billionaires are new to the list ... while 117 dropped off," Forbes said in unveiling its new elite list of billionaires who reaped the most last year amidst the turbulence and difficulties that in turn presented further opportunities to a handful on top of the chain.

The magazine listed 18 Australians crashing into the elite circle led by mining mogul Gina Rinehart, whose resources holdings in Western Australia easily made her as the richest person in this side of the planet.

Only a few months back, Ms Rinehart nearly doubled her net worth via a blockbuster deal with a South Korean steelmaker, leading to her present value of $US18 billion or roughly the equivalent of $17.1 billion in the local currency.

Those numbers, however, only secured for Ms Rinehart the number 29 spot on the world's richest persons, with the top position again awarded to Mexican telecommunication billionaire Carlos Sims on the account of his current wealth of $US69 billion.

The 72-year-old Mr Sims owns and operates the regional telecom giant America Movil, his main tool in leading the list for the third time this year, again eclipsing once perennial Forbes billionaire circle leader Bill Gates.

Mr Gates, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft, has so far maintained a considerable haul in 2011, which he amassed by deploying the ubiquitous Windows operating system to millions of PCs around the world, with Forbes reporting his latest net worth at $US62 billion.

The top 10 was again dominated by tycoons who call the economic powerhouse U.S. as their home, with the likes of Warrant Buffet and the Walton family members of Wal-Mart again populating seats in the list.

Notwithstanding the ongoing debt crisis in Europe, which so far has generated unrests in the region and uncertainties for much of world, Forbes noted that billionaires from the region made it to the top.

Bernard Arnault of France and Amancio Ortega of Spain both joined Messrs Sims and Buffet to the top five with respective net worth of $US41 billion and $US37.5 billion.

mr Ortega, had an incredible climb last year, according to Agence France Presse (AFP), whose 2010 net of $US6.5 shot up even as many in the Euro region were struggling to survive.

Equally impressive are the Australians that joined Ms Rinehart in the list, most of them Forbes said, were enriched by interests on mining, the sector that economists said serves as the backbone of the Australian economy.

Next to Ms Rinehart, is Glencore majority owner Ivan Glasenberg, who hails from South Africa but holds an Australian passport, with his worth of $US7.5 billion affording him the 125th place in the world and number two in local circles.

AFP reported that after the two Australian mega-billionaires, the following made it to the top 700: Andrew Forrest, Clive Palmer, James Packer, Frank Lowy, Harry Triguboff, John Gandel, Angela Bennett, Michael Wright, Kerr Neilson, David Hains, Kerry Stokes, Paul Ramsey, Lindsay Fox, Stanley Perron and Michael Hintz.

All were listed in Australia's top 20 and have fortunes ranging from $1 billion to $6 billion, AFP wrote.

"A record 1226 billionaires (up from 1210 in 2011) made the list, with an average net worth of $US3.7 billion," Forbes said.

Americans and Europeans account for the big chunk of world billionaires but Forbes also highlighted that emerging markets have been producing tens of billionaires in the past years, mostly coming from Brazil, China, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan - the latter two considered by China as its territories.