Saudi Arabia among top 20 countries with the most ultra-rich individuals

Saudi Arabia has been ranked among top 20 countries worldwide with the highest number of Ultra-high net worth individuals (or UNHWIs worth at least $100 million), according to the new Global Wealth Report 2019 by Credit Suisse.

Saudi Arabia is the only country from the Middle East and Africa region to get a spot in the top 20 ranking.

Among individual countries, the United States leads by a huge margin with 80,510 UNHWIs, equivalent to 48 percent of the world total. China is a clear second with 18,130 UHNW individuals, followed by Germany (6,800), the United Kingdom (4,640), India (4,460) and France (3,700). The remaining countries in the top ten list are Canada (3,530), Japan (3,350), Russia (3,120) and Hong Kong SAR (3,100).

The other countries in the top 20 list include Korea (11th), Italy (12th), Australia (13th), Brazil (14th), Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) (15th), Spain (16th), Switzerland (17th), Sweden (18th), Netherlands (19th), and Saudi Arabia (20th).

In terms of region, North America dominates the regional breakdown with 84,050 members (50 percent), while Europe has 33,550 (20 percent), and 22,660 (14 percent) live in Asia-Pacific countries, excluding China and India.

However, between mid-2018 and mid-2019, many countries saw decline in the number of millionaires (wealth above $1 million). These conclude Australia, UK, Turkey, Italy, Hong Kong, France, Greece and Saudi Arabia.

Overall, worldwide wealth growth was modest in the 12 months up to mid-2019. Aggregate global wealth rose by $9.1 trillion to $360.6 trillion, representing a growth rate of 2.6 percent, Credit Suisse report maintained.

Rise of new millionaires

The number of new millionaires was also relatively modest, up 1.1 million to 46.8 million. The United States added 675,000 newcomers, more than half of the global total. Japan and China each contributed more than 150,000, but Australia lost 124,000 millionaires following a fall in average wealth.

This year, the United States (US) extended its unbroken spell of wealth gains, which began after the global financial crisis in 2008.

The US also accounts for 40 percent, or 18.6 million of millionaires worldwide, the Credit Suisse report said. For many years, Japan held second place in the millionaire rankings by a comfortable margin. However, Japan is now in third place with 6 percent, overtaken by China (10 percent), Credit Suisse report noted.

“China’s progress has enabled it to replace Europe as the principal source of global wealth growth and to replace Japan as the country with the second-largest number of millionaires,” it maintained.

Next come the United Kingdom and Germany with 5 percent each, followed by France (4 percent), then Italy, Canada and Australia (3 percent). Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, India and Korea each host 2 percent of global millionaires, with Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) and Hong Kong SAR also accounting for at least 1 percent of HNW citizens worldwide, Credit Suisse noted in the report.

Other emerging markets – India in particular – have made a steady contribution, which Credit Suisse expects to continue over the next five years.

The report also looks at the evolution of wealth inequality. The bottom half of wealth holders collectively accounted for less than 1 percent of total global wealth in mid-2019, while the richest 10 percent own 82 percent of global wealth and the top 1 percent alone own 45 percent.

Credit Suisse however projects global wealth to rise by 27 percent over the next five years, reaching $459 trillion by 2024.

Write to Sunil Kumar Singh at sunil.kumar@argaamplus.com