These are the richest billionaires in 18 European countries — and this is how they made their money

Europe's wealthiest individuals are a mixed group.

Some of them hold fortunes derived from centuries-old dynasties, while others are hard-nosed entrepreneurs who scrabbled up from humble backgrounds.

There are those in eastern Europe who made their money recently after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there are industrialists from Scandinavia with fortunes derived from old industry, and there are some in Western Europe with ancient royal connections.

Business Insider has used Forbes' rich list to determine the wealthiest individual in each European state, ranked from the least-wealthy upwards.

In some countries, no residents made the Forbes list, and the countries were therefore not included in this ranking.

Mike Bird contributed to an earlier version of this post.

Romania's Ion Tiriac — NET WORTH: £804,000 ($1 billion)

Romania's richest man is known as the "Brasov Bulldozer." A retired professional tennis and ice hockey player, he made his fortune following the collapse of Communist Romania in 1989 with a number of business investments across banking, retail, and insurance.

Monaco's Tatiana Casiraghi — NET WORTH: £1.8 billion ($2.3 billion)

Beer heiress Tatiana Casiraghi is Monaco's richest resident, and she also happens to be a royal there. Casiraghi inherited the bulk of her fortune from her late grandfather, who sold his Colombian brewery Bavaria for billions in 2005. She is married to Prince Andrea Casiraghi of Hanover, who is fourth in the line to the Monaco throne.

Finland's Antti Herlin — NET WORTH: £2.9 billion ($3.6 billion)

Finland's richest man made his money in an unlikely way — the escalator and elevator business. He's the great-grandson of Harald Herlin, who purchased the KONE engineering company in the 1920s.