<Li> On May 20, 2012 . Slim was awarded an honorary doctorate in public service from George Washington University . </Li> <P> Slim's growing fortune has been a subject of controversy, because it has been amassed in a developing country where average per capita income does not surpass US $14,500 a year, and nearly 17% of the population lives in poverty . Critics claim that Slim is a monopolist, pointing to Telmex's control of 90% of the Mexican landline telephone market . Slim's wealth is the equivalent of roughly 5% of Mexico's annual economic output . Telmex, of which 49.1% is owned by Slim and his family, charges among the highest usage fees in the world, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . The average Mexican spends 1.50 pesos per day on Slim's goods and services for a total of roughly US $140 million a day and the Federal Telecommunications Institute, a new Mexican government anti-monopoly watchdog said in April 2014 that Slim's telecom businesses are monopolies . Slim's business presence in Mexico alone is so broad that many Mexicans find it appropriate to call the country "Slimlandia" as it is almost impossible to go a day in Mexico without contributing to Slim's wealth . </P> <P> According to Celso Garrido, economist at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Slim's domination of Mexico's conglomerates prevents the growth of smaller companies, resulting in a shortage of paying jobs, forcing many Mexicans to seek better lives in the U.S. </P> <P> In response to the criticism, Slim has stated, "When you live for others' opinions, you are dead . I don't want to live thinking about how I'll be remembered" by Mexican people claiming indifference about his position on Forbes list of the world's richest people . He has said he has no interest in becoming the world's richest person . When asked to explain his sudden increase in wealth at a press conference soon after Forbes annual rankings were published, he said, "The stock market goes up...and down", and noted that his fortune could quickly drop . </P>

Who is known as the richest man in the world