The number of very rich people (very-high-net-worth, VHNW) in the world increased by 10% last year and reached 2.7 million, according to data from Wealth-X. The total value of their fortunes also increased by 10% and reached $26.6 trillion, Interfax-Kazakhstan writes.
In 2018, the number of such people, whose net worth is between $5 million and $30 million, increased by only 1%. An important driver of global wealth growth has been “the reorientation of major central banks’ policies towards monetary stimulus, which has boosted investor sentiment and global equity markets,” Wealth-X said in a report.
There were 1.05 million VHNWs in North America last year (up 15.3%) with a combined wealth of $10.3 billion (up 15.2%). In Asia, their number was 723.79 thousand, in Europe – 678.37 thousand.
Among the countries, the leaders in the number of very rich people were the United States (969.075 thousand), which overtook China (259.83 thousand) by a large margin. Japan, Germany and France follow. In the top 10 cities, 6 are American, Asia and Europe are represented by 2 cities each. New York ranked first (110.17 thousand, an increase of 16.9% last year), Tokyo came in second (73.845 thousand, an increase of 10.3%), and Hong Kong came in third (64.855 thousand, an increase of 10.3%). by 10.5%). They are followed by Los Angeles, London, Paris, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington and Dallas. All ten cities posted double-digit rates of VHNW growth.
This is Wealth-X’s first VHNW study. Previously, the company published reports on millionaires, billionaires, and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) people whose net worth exceeds $30 million.