The Asia-Pacific region's billionaires suffered major losses last year, with their overall wealth and total numbers falling at the greatest rate globally.

The region saw its billionaire population fall by 13% and their total wealth tumble by 8% in 2018, according to data firm Wealth-X's 2019 Billionaire Census.

That translates to a loss of 109 billionaires in Asia-Pacific and a $212 billion drop in their total combined wealth. Those falls were led by the region's four most populous countries for billionaires: China, Hong Kong, India and Singapore.

The findings mark a reversal of fortunes from 2017, when the region minted more ultra-wealthy individuals than any other.

Weaker performances for stock markets, the ongoing U.S.-China tariff dispute, and emerging market volatility on the back of a strong U.S. dollar were largely responsible for the losses, which hit billionaire numbers globally.

According to Wealth-X, global billionaire wealth fell 7% in 2018 and the overall billionaire population dropped 5.4%, marking just the second such falls in billionaire numbers since the 2008 financial crisis.

North America was the only region to record growth, with its billionaire population rising 3%. U.S. billionaires especially benefited from higher interest rates and the Trump administration's tax reform package, the report noted.