Report reveals rise in millionaire numbers

A WORLDWIDE survey of wealth has revealed a surge in the number of millionaires to 56.1 million at the end of 2020, up by 5.2 million from a year earlier.

The Credit Suisse Research Institute’s recently published Global Wealth Report-2021 showed the rise in fortunes.

Total global wealth grew by 7.4 per cent, while wealth per adult rose by six per cent to reach another record high of $79,952 (£57,920) at the end of 2020.

More than one per cent of adult population in the world are now dollar millionaires, but this proportion varies across countries, it said.

“Starting at the lower end, millionaires are uncommon in India, Indonesia or even Russia – around one in 1,000 adults. The frequency is not much greater in China. Despite the large expansion in the number of millionaires, the huge population size means that millionaires remain relatively rare – about one for every 200 adults,” the report said.

“Millionaires account for three per cent of adults in Italy and Spain. Prospects increase if you travel north to France, Austria or Germany (about four per cent), improving still further if you continue on to Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark or Sweden (around six per cent),” it said.

“But millionaire density is higher still in the United States or Hong Kong SAR (above eight per cent), Australia (nine per cent), and highest of all in Switzerland (15 per cent),” it added.

The 12th edition of the Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report noted that for the first time in history, more than one per cent of the world’s adult population are millionaires.

It also showed how 82 per cent of global wealth is in the hands of the richest 10 per cent of the world’s population.

Meanwhile, India and Pakistan revealed a contrasting trend in the last two years as far as millionaires in the two countries are concerned.

Pakistan saw a surge in its millionaire population from 8,494 in 2018 to 15,534 now, while India witnessed a decline from 759,000 to 697,655 in the same period.