Sir Peter Jackson has joined pop star Rihanna and 234 other rich listers debuted for the first time on Forbes' billionaire list.

Jackson, best known for directing the film series Lord of the Rings, became a billionaire in November when he sold a stake in his special effects production house Weta Digital for $975 million.

Forbes estimates Jackson is worth US$1.5 billion ($2.1b), after the deal with US tech giant Unity Software. That company deemed the intellectual property of Weta alone to be worth US$2.3b.

Jackson is one of just three Kiwis to make the global billionaires list, alongside Graeme Hart and Richard Chandler.

Toy empire Zuru's founding family the Mowbrays did not make the list.

Forbes' billionaire list was made up of a total of 2668 billionaires this year, including 236 newcomers — a steep decrease in the 493 newcomers canvassed last year.

A total of 35 Russians dropped off the list, along with 87 rich listers from China.

According to Forbes, the fortunes of the 83 Russians who held on to their billionaire status nearly all stagnated or declined compared to a year ago and total Russian billionaire wealth fell by more than US$260b - down from US$584b last year to US$320b this year.

Russian oligarchs have faced harsh realities after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and worldwide sanctions, moves that have rocked the Russian stock market and sent the ruble plummeting.

China's billionaires are approximately US$500b poorer than a year ago, worth US$1.96 trillion, compared to US$2.5t in 2021, according to calculations by Forbes.

The total net worth of the world's billionaires now sits at US$12.7t, down from US$13.1t recorded last year. The war between Russia and Ukraine, sanctions imposed on Russia that have followed, coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic, government crackdowns on tech companies and weaker stockmarkets globally can be attributed to this.

Elon Musk tops the world's billionaires ranking for the first time ever, with an estimated net worth of US$219b. He added US$68b to his fortune over the past year after Tesla's 33 per cent share price increase.

Musk beat out previous crown holder Jeff Bezos, who sits in second place after four years as the world's richest person. Bezos is worth an estimated US$171b. Amazon's 3 per cent drop in stock price in the past year wiped out US$6b from his net worth.

Bernard Arnault of LVMH remains in the third spot, worth US$158b, followed by Bill Gates in fourth place, who has an estimated net worth of US$129b.

Serial investor Warren Buffett, chief executive and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, rejoined the top five earners after falling to sixth spot last year. He has an estimated net worth of US$118b.

Newcomers to the billionaire list this year come from more than 30 countries.

Despite a tech crackdown by its government, China produced 62 new billionaires - the most of any other country, followed by 50 from the United States.

Among the largely unknown rich listers, US recording artist Rihanna made a debut on the list, with an estimated net worth of US$1.7b. The 34-year-old holds stakes in the Fenty Beauty cosmetics line, owned by LVMH. She is Barbados' first billionaire.

The number of crypto billionaires has also increased, according to Forbes. A record 19 billionaires, seven more than last year, made the list.

Leading the crypto billionaires is Changpeng Zhao, founder and chief executive of Binance, with a net worth of US$65b.