(Yicai Global) March 26 -- China has the world's most billionaires from the education sector, accounting for 63 percent of the total, according to a new ranking released today.

China took the top three places on the Hurun 2020 Global Education Rich List. Twelve out of 19 US-dollar billionaires whose main business is in education were Chinese. India followed with three spots. Despite having some of the world's top universities, the UK and the US did not feature on the list.

"Although China is well-known for the emphasis it places on education, it came as a surprise to me to find that two thirds of the world's known education billionaires were from China and that there were none from places such as the USA and the UK which are so well-known for their higher education," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report.

Li Yongxin and his mother, Lu Zhongfang, founders of Offcn Education Technology, topped the list with a net worth of USD13 billion. Their main business is exam training for civil servants and teachers. The Beijing-based firm's second-largest shareholder, Wang Zhendong, came fifth with USD3.3 billion.

Ranking second with assets of USD8.9 billion was Zhang Bangxin, who set up home tutoring firm TAL Education Group, while Chen Xiangdong, founder of online education platform Genshuixue, came third with USD4.5 billion.

Bertil Hult, founder of Switzerland's EF Education First, most known for its language training programs, ranked fourth with USD4 billion. Yu Minhong, the man behind China's largest comprehensive private provider New Oriental Education & Technology Group, ranked sixth with USD2.9 billion.

With six billionaires, Beijing has the greatest concentration of the world's wealthiest people in the education sector. Hefei in Anhui province has three, followed by Hong Kong and India's Bangalore with two each.

China's tutoring market was worth CNY2.68 trillion (USD378.2 billion) in 2018. It is expected to reach CNY5 trillion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.8 percent, according to a report released by London-based consultancy firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

The report was jointly released by the Hurun Research Institute and Hurun Education. Wealth calculations were taken from March 20.

Editor: Kim Taylor