the Forbes 2025 data that can change the Spanish economy
Spanish fortunes are octogenarian. According to the latest Forbes report, of the 258,827 million euros that these assets total, 54.2% – more than 140,000 million – It belongs to just 28 octogenarians. It is a phenomenon that, according to the magazine, “defines and threatens the structure of the country, whose transition will redefine the Spanish economy of the next decade.”
But, let’s put figures to this alarming phenomenon. These 28 millionaires have an average age of 84.5 years and accumulate an average wealth of 5,318 million euros per head. four times higher than the average for those under 50 years of age.
In total, twelve people aged 85 or over control 122,003 million (47.1% of the total). Amancio Ortega, 89 years old and worth 109.9 billion, heads this list of imminent succession; He is followed by Miguel Fluxà (87 years old, 3.3 billion), Juan Abelló (83 years old, 3.0 billion) and the March brothers (80 and 85 years old, with 4.1 billion combined). And if the trend continues unchanged, In five years a total of 51 people will be over 75 years old, controlling 68.6% of the assets.
On the other side of the coin, only seven people under the age of half a century appear on the list, representing 2.3% of the total, with a total of 5,958 million euros. The contrast is revealing: those over 70 have 29.8 times more wealth than those under 50.
The problem of octogenarian fortunes
Beyond the age of the millionaires, Forbes magazine highlights something even more worrying: the origin of the fortunes. “There are no tech unicorn founders on the list. There are no digital entrepreneurs. There are no biotech innovators.” This means that “as long as new wealth creators are not generated, Spain faces the largest wealth transfer in its history“.
For obvious reasons – the inevitable biology – in the next decade, much of this wealth will change hands. In the next decade, a significant portion of this wealth will change hands for obvious and inevitable biological reasons. “The 2035 Forbes list will be up by then dominated by heirs managing assets from the last century“they say.
Spain suffers from lack of innovation
Much of these fortunes, which arose from small family businesses, They became great during the Transition and Spanish developmentalism taking advantage of the boom tourism, construction or private banking, however, “40 years have passed since that historic moment,” they highlight in the magazine. And since then, there has not been a wave of wealth creators in emerging sectors.
Compared to large economies like the United States, their multi-billion dollar fortunes like those of Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Elon Musk (Tesla), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google) have been built in the last two decades. There are also examples in China: Jack Ma (Alibaba) and Pony Ma (Tencent). And even closer, in Europe, with the cases of Spotify in Sweden or Skype in Estonia.
However, “Spain, as the world’s fourteenth largest economy, has not produced anything comparable.” The report states that the seven under 50 years of age: Marc and Xavier Rubiralta (42 and 46 years, 1.1 billion each) are in pharmaceutical health, a traditional sector; Manuel Domínguez de la Maza (46 years old, 1.3 billion) inherited part of the family textile business; José Elías (49 years old, 650 million), operates in renewable energies, “a sector with potential but still far from mega-fortunes” and Ángel Asín Barcelona, with 500 million, is the only one that stands out in a cybersecurity business.
The coming years will redefine the country’s economic future and answer the big questions that arise from this phenomenon: will the heritage be fragmented – and even diluted – among multiple descendants?
