SINGAPORE - Asia created one billionaire nearly every three days, with China leading the way, the latest report about billionaires found.

They made up more than half of new billionaires last year (2015), said UBS and PwC, which did the report.

Total billionaire wealth dropped by US$300 billion (S$414.3 billion) to US$5.1 trillion last year, and average billionaire wealth fell from US$4 billion to US$3.7 billion.

This was owing to headwinds such as the transfer of assets within families, commodity price deflation and an appreciating US dollar.

Europe has the greater number of multi-generational billionaires at 182, and they are the most resilient at preserving their fortunes.

The United States has 173 of such billionaires, and Asia Pacific has 76.