There's no single "poorest person" identifiable, as extreme poverty affects millions lacking basic needs, but French rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel is famously called the world's poorest due to owing billions (around $6.7 billion) to his former bank, Société Générale. While Kerviel has immense debt, "poverty" also means lacking essentials, a reality for countless individuals in developing nations without a name, making it impossible to pick just one person.
Who is J r me Kerviel? In this article, we are talking about J r me Kerviel, a Frenchman who is now considered to be the world's poorest and most indebted person. He is buried under a debt of nearly Rs 4.95 lakh crore (around $6.7 billion). Being poor does not always mean empty pockets.
South Sudan is widely considered the poorest country in the world in 2025-2026, consistently ranking first due to extremely low GDP per capita and a high percentage (over 80%) of its population living in extreme poverty, driven by prolonged civil conflict, displacement, and disruption of its agricultural economy. Other nations frequently cited as among the poorest include Burundi, the Central African Republic, and Yemen, also suffering from conflict and instability.
Jerome Kerviel, The Most Indebted Person In The World, Owes $6.3 Billion To Former Employer, Societe Generale. In a hyper-competitive world where everyone strives to be the biggest, boldest and most famous, no one covets Jerome Kerviel record-breaking achievement. He is the most indebted person in the world.
Release from prison
On 8 September 2014, Kerviel was released from Fleury Merogis prison having served fewer than five months of detention. He was to begin a job with an IT consultancy firm.
Michael Sheen has written off £1 million ($1.29 million) of debt for 900 people using £100,000 ($129,000) of his own money. The Welsh star, famed for roles in Good Omens, Twilight and more recently, A Very Royal Scandal, has started a debt acquisition company to help the group in his native south Wales.
Elon Musk is widely predicted to be the first trillionaire, with projections placing him to reach this milestone around 2027-2028, driven by potential growth in Tesla, SpaceX, and AI ventures, especially following a key shareholder vote approving a massive stock option package. Other contenders include Gautam Adani and Jensen Huang, but Musk currently leads the race.
Meet the richest young millionaire in Nigeria : Nigerian pre-teen, Muhammed Awal Mustapha, aka Mompha Junior, is being dubbed the 'world's youngest billionaire' at just 10 years old. He's the only son of wealthy internet celebrity, Ismailia Mustapha, aka Mompha Senior.
As of early January 2026, Elon Musk is consistently ranked as the world's richest man, leading lists from Forbes and Bloomberg, with significant wealth derived from Tesla, SpaceX, and his various tech ventures, often holding over $600-$700 billion, followed by tech leaders like Larry Page and Jeff Bezos. His fortune has seen significant growth, making him the first person to reach several multi-hundred-billion-dollar milestones, notes Wikipedia.
But despite the economic uptick of recent years, Tasmania is still the poorest Australian state.
The richest country by GDP (PPP) per capita is often cited as Singapore, followed closely by Luxembourg, depending on the specific report and year, with Singapore leading in 2025 estimates with around $156,000-$157,000 per person, while Luxembourg is a strong contender just below that, highlighting small, finance-heavy economies as wealthiest per person.
South Sudan is widely considered the poorest country in the world in 2025-2026, consistently ranking first due to extremely low GDP per capita and a high percentage (over 80%) of its population living in extreme poverty, driven by prolonged civil conflict, displacement, and disruption of its agricultural economy. Other nations frequently cited as among the poorest include Burundi, the Central African Republic, and Yemen, also suffering from conflict and instability.
In 2022, Native American and Black people had the highest share of people living below 100 percent of the poverty level. Across the listed poverty levels in 2022, the Native American female population had the highest share of those below the poverty level in the US, while the white male population had the lowest share.
At age 29, Luana Lopes Lara has just become the youngest self-made woman billionaire on Earth, unseating 31-year-old Scale AI cofounder Lucy Guo who took the title from Taylor Swift in April.
MrBeast: $2.6 billion (£1.9bn)
Jimmy Donaldson aka MrBeast is the richest Gen Z star by a huge margin. YouTube's most-subscribed creator, the 27-year-old has drawn 457 million followers thanks to his high-stakes challenges, stunts, and headline-grabbing giveaways.
As of late 2024 and into 2025, Elon Musk became the first person to surpass a $400 billion net worth, primarily driven by the rising values of SpaceX and Tesla and his AI venture xAI. While fluctuations occur, he consistently ranks as the world's richest person, with figures showing his wealth significantly exceeding other billionaires like Jeff Bezos.
Salary Elon Musk
Elon Musk (Entrepeneur - Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink - United States) earns a salary of ₹1,32,69,29,57,03,684.00 per year.
Trillion is a number with two distinct definitions: 1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or 1012 (ten to the twelfth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the meaning in both American and British English.
Charlie Sheen gave $100,000 to actress Lindsay Lohan in late 2012 to help her pay off significant IRS tax debt after they worked together on Scary Movie 5, a gesture he made to help a friend in need, though he publicly expressed disappointment at not receiving a thank you text, as reports Business Insider and E! News from 2012 indicate.
Use this 11-word phrase to stop debt collectors: “Please cease and desist all calls and contact with me immediately.” You can use this phrase over the phone, in an email or letter, or both.
Francois Pinault, who is now worth $40 billion, was teased in school for being poor. Oprah Winfrey was born into a poor Mississippi family in 1954, but she's now worth $2.5 billion.