The couple lost an average of £500,000 a day over the past year, falling from £730m last year to an estimated fortune of £529m – dropping 53 places on the list.

The Sunday Times rich list records the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the UK by net wealth.

Sunak first entered the list last year when he was Chancellor, becoming the first frontline politician to be named in the annual ranking since its inception in 1989.

In March, it was revealed that the prime minister earned £1,970,992 in income and capital gains, when his accountants Evelyn Partners released details about his tax return.

Of the £1.9m earned, £156,163 came from his parliamentary salary, £173,398 from investment and savings income and £1.6m from capital gains.

Capital gains are taxed at 20% in the UK, while the highest income tax band is 45% on earnings over £150,000.

The records show the total UK tax he paid in 2020/21 was £393,217 on earnings of £1,777,581. Of this, £156,164 was earned in salary, £182,186 in investment and savings income, and £1.4m in capital gains.

His wife, Akshata Murty, also owns a stake in Infosys, a $64bn (£52bn) Indian IT multinational co-founded by her billionaire father. The value of that stake has since fallen, driving the drop in the couple’s fortune.

The number one spot in the 2023 rich list was occupied by Gopi Hinduja and his family, who are behind the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group, with a fortune of £35bn.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is the highest climber on the list, and the founder and chairman of global chemicals company Ineos, followed in second place at £29.7bn.

The list also showed that the Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson lost £1.8bn last year, pushing him and his family down to 44th place with £4.2bn.

Robert Watts, the list’s compiler, said: ‘This year’s Sunday Times rich list shows a golden period for the super-rich is over. For the first time in 14 years, we’ve seen the number of UK billionaires fall.

‘Two years ago, we raised concerns about an unsettling boom in the fortunes of the very wealthy that continued unchecked during the political instability around Brexit and the pandemic.

‘This is not a crash, but there are household names who have lost vast sums over the past year. The bursting of the tech bubble, the end of rock-bottom interest rates and the jitters creeping through the banking industry have all taken their toll.

‘The super-rich don’t exist in a vacuum. Many small investors lost money in some of their overblown stock market floats. Many people also work for their businesses. Financial losses for billionaires can have implications for us all.’