access to the University education it has become one of the best predictors of wealth in Western societies. The gap between the most educated and those who left the training system before reaching college has widened in recent decades. And one of the best ways to predict whether a child will have more or less future income is to look at the educational background of their parents.
It is something more or less clear depending on the country, but in general, especially in countries that have suffered more acutely from the effects of the economic crisis, the social lift has broken. Or it works imperfectly, slower, more jerky. There is thus a correlation between greater wealth and higher university education, but it is not a perfect balance. Uneducated millionaires are everywhere.
The most obvious example is Amancio Ortega, the richest man in Spain and one of the five wealthiest in the world. Born in a remote town in the mountains of León, Ortega set up a textile empire without having passed through the upper echelons of the academy. It is a situation that is often repeated in other countries of the world, authentic examples of “self-made men or women”, conquering the system from below.
There are other examples that tell the opposite. These graphs and maps made by Resume.io are a good example of this. Based on the lists of the richest people in the world prepared by different publications, the infographics analyze academic credentials (or the lack of them). The results are interesting.
In at least 28 countries, the richest person does not have a higher student endorsement than the majority of the population. Many of them are found in Asia and Africa, but also in Europe. singularly, the southern countries from the continent (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Romania, the bulk of the PIGS) are among them. Also New Zealand, thanks to Graeme Hart, a very successful private investor.
It is the most populated category, but it is not the norm. The graphs break down by academic specialization. Actually, most billionaires do have some sort of college degree. Finance (26 of the cases analyzed), economics (22) and engineering (21) prevail. Further down are lawyers (13), political science (12, surprisingly) and pure science (7). Up to five have various careers, while only two are doctors, historians or studied Education.
By colors, the relationship is as follows: purple, without studies; gray, with studies but of unknown specialization; light blue, Finance; green, Economy; red, Engineering; orange, right; dark blue, Policies; lime, Sciences; gold, various degrees; purple, Social Sciences; indigo, Computer Science; turquoise, Medicine; blue, Mathematics; choral, History; yellow, Medicine.