How Is Wealth Distributed Across The Globe?
Beijing is the city with the most billionaires this year, but the U.S. remains the wealth capital of the world. That may not be the case for much longer.
Beijing is the city with the most billionaires this year, but the U.S. remains the wealth capital of the world. That may not be the case for much longer.
The U.S. has long remained the world’s dominant wealth hub. Forbes’ annual World Billionaires 2021 ranking featured 724 Americans— more than any other country and up from 614 last year.
However, Knight Frank projects that Asia will witness the fastest growth in ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) over the next five years, at a rate of 39% compared with the 27% global average. China ranks as the second most billionaire populated country with 698 individuals (including 71 from Hong Kong and one from Macao).
In terms of cities, Beijing is now home to more billionaires than anywhere globally, surpassing New York City for the first time in seven years despite the global pandemic. Forbes estimates that Beijing has 100 billionaires who control $484.3 billion. The capital’s richest resident is TikTok founder Zhang Yiming, worth $35.6 billion. Another Asian superpower, India, has the third-highest number of billionaires, with 140.
By 2025, Asia is forecasted to host 24% of all UHNWIs, up from 17% a decade earlier, as per Knight Frank. Central to this surge is Mainland China, which is expected to grow 246% in very wealthy residents in the decade to 2025.
Besides the rise of billionaires, the same research also projects that the number of millionaires—or HNWIs—will rise globally by 2025 at a growth rate of 41%. The growth rate for millionaires is 46% and 29% for Asia and the Middle East, respectively. According to Knight Frank Wealth Sizing Model, Turkey and the U.A.E. are set to bring the most wealth growth countrywise in the Middle East by 2025.
Data by Boston Consulting Group found that personal financial wealth has soared over the past two decades, nearly tripling on a global basis from $80.5 trillion at the end of 1999 to $226.4 trillion at the end of 2019. Wealth in Asia has climbed more than 21% between 1999 to 2019, whereas the Middle East alone witnessed over a 14% rise in the same period. The group predicts that the affluent band will be the fastest-growing segment in Asia, Western Europe, and the Middle East.
With $517 billion in personal wealth, Dubai is the wealthiest city in the Middle East and the 30th most affluent city in the world (by total wealth held), as per New World Wealth. Among countries, the U.A.E. ranked as the richest in the region with $870 billion. The country’s boom was attributed to it being one of the world’s biggest recipients of migrant HNWIs in the last two decades. Over 35,000 HNWIs are estimated to have moved to the U.A.E. from 2000 to 2020, and many of them are from India, the Middle East, and Africa.
The U.A.E. is also the largest wealth management center in the region, with assets under management of approximately $110 billion.