Forbes Spain has just published your list of the 100 largest fortunes in Spain in 2025. In total, the largest fortunes in the country add up to 258,870 million euros, which is 7% more than the previous year. Beyond the fact that Amancio Ortega repeats for another year as the greatest fortune in Spain, few changes in the names that form itwith respect to other previous lists.
However, there is one fact that draws powerful attention: of that total of 258.87 billion euros, 111.2 billion are in the hands of people over 80 years of age. In other words, 42.96% of the great Spanish wealth is concentrated in the hands of octogenarians.
Octogenarian fortunes. Forbes data shows a clear pattern: 28 of the 100 largest assets belong to people over 80 years old who together control more than 111 billion euros. If the range is extended to the 70 to 79 age group, the sum of assets increases by 37.2 billion euros, which raises the total wealth in the hands of those over 70 years of age to 148 billion, close to 57% of the total. Spain is, literally, an economy controlled by septuagenarians and octogenarians.
This data contrasts with the reality of other countries. For example, in the United States the average age of billionaires is around 65.7 years, according to the report ‘The Wealth Report 2025′ prepared by Knight Frank. In 2014, this average age was 63.3 years. If we focus on the 400 largest fortunes in the US (Forbes 400), the average age rises to 70 years.
An aging country in every sense. The case of great fortunes is only a reflection of a broader pattern. According to data According to Eurostat, the average age in Spain is approximately 45.4 years, which places our country among the oldest in the European Union, whose average was 44.7 years in 2024.
This demographic structure is also replicated in the business environment. According to data from ‘Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2024 Report’the number of entrepreneurs under 35 years of age has decreased by 25% in the last decade, while the average age of IBEX 35 directors and directors exceeds 61.2 years, according to data of the CNMV.
Fortunes of the last century. Unlike the United States, where the origin of great fortunes It is linked to technological innovation —Elon Musk with Tesla and SpaceX; Larry Ellison with Oracle; Mark Zuckerberg and Meta or Jeff Bezos with Amazon—the greatest Spanish fortunes come from much more traditional sectors.
According to Forbes Spain 2025, the dominant branches are textiles and distribution (Inditex, Mercadona, Tendam), banking and investment (Santander, March, Abelló), infrastructure and construction (Ferrovial, Acciona) and tourism (Meliá, Barceló). In the vast majority of cases, these are businesses founded or consolidated in the 20th century and today managed by the second or third generation. They are not fortunes born from disruptionbut of the continuity of the family business.
At the gates of the “Great Transfer of Assets”. The aging of the economic elite in Spain anticipates a generational wealth transfer unprecedented in our country. Taking data from Forbes, the 111.2 billion euros controlled by people over 80 will inevitably pass at the hands of heirs or successors in the coming years.
This transfer of wealth that, sooner rather than later, the richest in Spain will face, also has different implications. First of all, they must start succession processes. Something that, in the case of Amancio Ortega, for example, is in the hands of his daughter Marta Ortega which currently runs Inditex, but leaves great unknowns in many other financial empires.
Furthermore, this transfer of assets between the heirs of great fortunes will contribute to reducing the concentration of capital in a single person, given that this assets are usually distributed between several heirs.
Image | GTRES, Mercadona, Ferrovial
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