Roland Duchatelet & family

Source of wealth: Semiconductors

79 years male Technology 🇧🇪 BE

Net Worth

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Earnings per second

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The scale of their wealth

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Health

The price of life

Let's compare Roland Duchatelet & family's fortune with the healthcare spending of a massive country

Roland Duchatelet & family could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo, with a population of over 105,800,000 people, for approximately 0.8 years.

But even if we compare their fortune with that of a rich country

On the other end, Roland Duchatelet & family could cover the healthcare spending of Luxembourg, considered the most heavily funded healthcare system in the world, for 0.4 years.

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Education

Buying the future

Let's also compare their fortune with education spending, first with a poor country

Roland Duchatelet & family could cover the total cost of Nigeria's education system, the most populous country in Africa with over 243,000,000 inhabitants, for 0.5 years.

And yes, we can also compare it with a rich country

But they couldn't just cover the cost of a poor country; Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, and Roland Duchatelet & family could pay for it entirely for 0.7 years.

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Research

The monopoly on progress

Coming full circle, we think it's also interesting to add another gigantic country

Roland Duchatelet & family could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with over 260,000,000 inhabitants, for 3.1 years.

And of course, the country that invests the most per capita worldwide

But even if we compare the total wealth of Roland Duchatelet & family with Israel, the country that invests the most per capita in research in the world, they could cover the total cost of the system for 0.1 years.

While billions of people struggle to access basic healthcare, education, and research, a single individual could fund entire national systems for centuries.

Gold

Everyday luxuries

Roland Duchatelet & family's fortune is equivalent to 13 tons of gold. It's hard to process, since we don't usually keep a handful of gold bars in our piggy banks.

A standard gold ring usually weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18 karats.

Based on today's gold price (excluding the jeweler's commission, shipping, or anything else), that ring would be worth $546.86.

Roland Duchatelet & family could buy 3,347,950 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and way too many gifts!!

And if you're struggling to visualize that many rings, it would take 1 trucks to transport them. Although Roland Duchatelet & family will almost certainly have enough money left over to pay for the gas.

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Biography

Roland Duchatelet started automotive sensor company Melexis in 1989 with married couple Rudi De Winter Françoise Chombar.

Melexis and a sister company, X-Fab, are both publicly traded and jointly controlled by the two families.

Duchatelet is the founder of social-liberal political party Vivant in Belgium, which later merged with the VLD party. He was elected senator between 2007 and 2010.