01 Number of Millionaires at All-Time High
According to Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2024, the global number of individuals with assets worth at least $1 million (excluding primary residences) reached a record 22.6 million in 2023, up 5.1% from 2022. Their total wealth also hit an all-time high, rising 4.7% to $86.8 trillion – the highest figure since the report’s inception in 1997.
Capgemini attributed this record-setting growth to increased savings rates, strong stock market performance, and a lower – although still relatively high – average annual inflation rate of 5.9%.
Declining real estate prices, among other factors, limited wealth growth in 2023. However, the primary driver of the rise in millionaires’ wealth was strong stock market performance, which rebounded sharply after a weak 2022.
Capgemini highlighted the robust performance of major stock indexes in 2023:
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- NASDAQ (United States): +43%
- S&P 500 (United States): +24%
- DAX (Germany): +20%
- CAC 40 (France): +16%
The real estate firm found that the number of UHNWIs in North America saw the largest increase from 2022 to 2023 (+7.2%), followed by the Middle East (+6.2%) and Africa (+3.8%). Latin America was the only region to experience a decline in UHNWIs (-3.6%).
Turkey led globally in the growth of new UHNWIs, with a 9.7% increase, followed by the United States (+7.9%), India (+6.1%), South Korea (+5.6%), and Switzerland (+5.2%). Knight Frank predicts a 28.1% global increase in the UHNWI population by 2028.
The United States remains the country with the largest millionaire population, hosting 7.43 million in 2023. Japan and Germany ranked second and third, with 3.78 million and 1.65 million millionaires, respectively.
Global Wealth on the Rise
The UBS Global Wealth Report 2024 suggests that:
- Wealth inequality is not as pervasive as it may seem. In Switzerland, for example, wealth inequality in 2023 was down 4.6% vs 2008. In Germany, it was down 5.4% over the same period.
- Opportunities for economic advancement remain robust worldwide, with one in three people moving up to the next rung of the wealth ladder within a decade. The authors noted that wealth inequality tends to rise in developing countries but fall in industrialised countries.
A 4.2% rise in global wealth (measured in US dollars vs. 2022) added to the positive picture. Year-on-year wealth growth was most pronounced in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, where UBS measured a rise of 4.8%. Wealth growth across the Americas stood at an impressive average of 3.6%.
The UBS economists gave a nuanced description of wealth growth in:
- Asia, where it was up 4.4% year-on-year but was accompanied by a debt burden that has risen 192% since 2008 – no less than 20 times as much as in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa over the same period.
- Switzerland, where it rose 3.4% year-on-year when measured in US dollars. Measured in Swiss francs, however, Swiss prosperity contracted by nearly 6%. The Swiss franc appreciated sharply towards the end of 2023 and made investments denominated in other currencies worth fewer Swiss francs.
- Turkey, which led all countries with an average rise of over 157% year-on-year measured in the collapsed local currency. High inflation led many Turks to invest their savings in capital markets and hard asset classes like real estate whose prices rose sharply. The result was a dramatic rise in nominal prosperity.
- Europe, where strikingly different wealth trends have emerged since the 2008 financial crisis. While people in Scandinavia and Central Europe are getting richer, those in Southern Europe are falling behind. Italy, Spain, and Greece are, along with Japan, the only countries where wealth measured in US dollars has fallen since 2010.
Switzerland, where average assets per capita are worth US $709,612, holds the top position on the national prosperity scale, outpacing Luxembourg (US $607,524 per capita) and Hong Kong (US$ 582,000 per capita). In the US, technology stock market gains have been a key driver behind the rise of American wealth per capita to US $564,862.
Takeaway
These 2024 reports paint an optimistic picture of rising prosperity, driven by robust stock market performance and increasing numbers of millionaires and UHWNIs. The Altoo Wealth Platform is designed to empower this growing demographic, providing the tools they need to navigate their increasingly complex and global financial journeys with confidence and precision.
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