- Global billionaires own 47.5% of wealth
- US leads with 21.95 million millionaires
- 1.5% of adults hold nearly half wealth
According to the 2024 UBS Global Wealth Report (PDF), at least 58 million US-dollar billionaires worldwide account for 1.5 percent of the global adult population. The report examined 56 markets that account for 92% of global wealth.
The United States has the most significant number of millionaires, with over 21.95 million people possessing wealth in seven digits or more. China is a distant second with 6.01 million millionaires, followed by the United Kingdom (3.06 million), France (2.87 million), and Japan (2.83 million).
UBS defines wealth as the value of a household’s financial and tangible assets minus its obligations.
According to UBS, global wealth increased by 4.2% in 2023 after falling by 3% in 2022.
“When you think about billionaires or the wealthy, there’s an indigenous core of millionaires who have a great connection to the country. Samuel Adams, an economist at UBS, said there is a more mobile element that may quickly transfer domiciles worldwide.
By 2028, the UK will likely lose the most millionaires, with roughly one in every six losing their status. The Netherlands is another country expected to lose 4% of its millionaires by 2028.
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“Our argument with the Netherlands and the United Kingdom is that both countries already have many millionaires and a growing core. However, you have a mobile [element] working around it. And, in the global race for wealth, they may witness some outflows from the more mobile segment of the wealthy. This does not necessarily imply that the economy isn’t working. Income is still generated in those countries. It’s only that folks who are nomadic may consider all of the places they want to call home.”
How is wealth distributed globally?
According to the Global Wealth Report, only 1.5 percent of the global adult population owns nearly half of the world’s wealth, 47.5 percent, or $213 trillion. These are households with more than $1 million.
In comparison, persons worth less than $10,000 own only 0.5 percent ($2.4 trillion) of global wealth yet account for 39.5 percent of the world’s adults.
Households worth$10,000 to $100,000, including 42.7% of individuals, account for 12.6% of global wealth, or $56.2 trillion.
The fastest-growing millionaires (2000–23)
The world’s population has made significant progress in wealth per adult since the turn of the millennium. The proportion of adults with wealth above $1 million has increased from 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent.
Since 2000, Qatar has seen the most significant increase in millionaires, rising from 46 to 26,163. China experienced the second highest growth, rising from 39,000 to 6,013,282 millionaires, followed by Kazakhstan (918 to 44,307).
Adams believes it is critical to recognize that, in general, wealth grows roughly proportional to economic and asset price growth.
Emerging market economies, such as China, especially in the 2000s, were in a very different stage, and Russia, similarly, tends to have more wealth rise in general. It also helps if you have a certain concentration in a sector, for example, that is experiencing particular growth. So commodity exporters, such as Russia and several Middle Eastern nations, have rapid wealth accumulation, notably in the top 10% of the wealth bracket, encouraging millionaire growth.
UBS stated that throughout the 15 years since the publication of its report, the Asia Pacific region has seen the most significant increase in wealth, up about 177 percent, followed by the Americas at nearly 146 percent, and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) at only 44 percent.
The most significant percentage of millionaires
The United States has 38% of the world’s millionaires, Western Europe 28%, and China 10%.
Switzerland has the highest percentage of millionaires, with 12 out of every 100 people owning more than $1 million. This is followed by Hong Kong, where eight out of every 100 people are millionaires, Australia (seven out of every 100), the Netherlands (seven out of every 100), and the United States (six out of every 100).
