15 Countries With the Most Millionaires: 2024
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Wealth growth across the world last year recovered from its 3% contraction in 2022, which was largely brought on by the effects of a strong U.S. dollar, according to the latest global wealth report from UBS.
The 4.2% bounceback offset the 2022 loss regardless of whether it is expressed in U.S. dollars or local currencies, the report said. Moreover, as inflation slowed, real growth exceeded nominal growth in 2023, leading to inflation-adjusted global wealth growth of 8.4%.
Global wealth has been on a steady upward trajectory since 2008, the report said, but the pace of growth has lost steam in nearly all markets.
Adults in Europe, the Middle East and Africa were wealthiest on average in 2023, with $166,000 per person, followed by Asia-Pacific, with $156,000, and the Americas, with $146,000. However, EMEA average wealth grew at the slowest pace since 2008 at about 41%, compared with 122% in Asia/Pacific and 110% in the Americas.
Overall wealth has grown fastest in Asia-Pacific, up by nearly 177% since 2008, and has been accompanied by a significant spike in debt, which has grown by 192% in the same time period.
Although the Americas trailed the global wealth rebound in 2023, the United States in particular has bucked the trend of slowing growth over time, increasing its compound annual growth rate from 4% between 2000 and 2010, to 6% between 2010 and 2023.
On an individual market level, Switzerland continues to top the list for average wealth per adult, followed by Luxembourg, Hong Kong SAR and the United States.
The biggest wealth increases in 2023 occurred in Turkey, Qatar and Russia, with Turkey’s growth of 157% the runaway leader.
The report said that by 2028, the number of adults with wealth of more than $1 million will have risen in 52 of the 56 markets analyzed. This projected increase will be visible in all wealth segments. The number of adults with more than $50 million in assets is expected to keep rising over the next four years.
UBS analysts do not expect a material shift in allocation between financial and non-financial wealth, and do not foresee a significant increase or reduction in debt. They therefore predict a steady evolution of the status quo rather than a deviation from it.
See the accompanying gallery for the 15 countries with the most millionaires in 2023, according to the UBS Global Wealth Report.
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