Beijing and Shanghai, along with Shenzhen, Guangdong province, have become the world's top preferred cities for billionaires, according to a global rich list released on Thursday.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2022, Beijing and Shanghai had 144 and 121 billionaires, respectively.

Shenzhen has overtaken New York City to become the world's third most-preferred city for billionaires, by adding eight billionaires for a total of 113.

Startup ecosystems require role models, both in terms of corporations and individuals, and the top three cities for billionaires have relatively sound ecosystems for business, said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report.

China continued to pull away from the United States in the past year, up 75 to 1,133 billionaires. The US added 20, taking it to 716, according to the rich list.

Since 2016, when billionaires in the world's second-largest economy first overtook the US, the number of billionaires in China has more than doubled, while the number in the US grew by one-third.

However, China's billionaires have been hit hard in the past year, with nine of the top 10 seeing a wealth reduction and 160 dropping off the list.

"Chinese e-commerce platforms, real estate, education, generic drugs and vaping were the sectors hardest hit by the recent COVID-19 outbreak across the country," Hoogewerf said. "Other factors included continued anti-monopoly regulations, pressure on real estate borrowings and carbon emission targets."

Pony Ma, founder of technology giant Tencent, and Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, dropped out of their ranking among the top three Chinese billionaires for the first time since 2015.

Zhong Shanshan, 68, founder of Chinese bottled water giant Nongfu Spring, retained his position as China's richest person with $72 billion.

The billionaires' wealth was calculated as of Jan. 14.

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