Israel could have as many as 71 billionaires according to financial outlets Forbes and The Marker, although not all of them are considered permanent residents.
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The news comes after a banner year for the world's super-rich, with 660 individuals joining the billionaire club as much of the rest of the world's population suffered from the effects of lockdowns linked to COVID-19 and at least temporary mass unemployment.
The trend was similar to the impact of the 2008 global financial crisis, which also saw an increase in the number of people joining the class of the super-wealthy.
In the US alone, nearly 4 million people lost their homes to foreclosure with millions more losing savings and jobs, but the disparity between the uber-wealthy and the rest of society continued to widen, just as it seems to have done throughout 2020-21.
Israel's 71 billionaires are thought to collectively be worth some $380 billion, a 32% increase from the previous year.
This spike was also driven in part by a stock market that, while dipping precipitously in March 2020, recovered to increase billionaires' already robust financial portfolios.
Unemployment in Israel, meanwhile, is now below 10% for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, sitting at 9.6%, or around 398,600 people.
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