Capgemini on Wednesday presented the latest edition of its World Wealth Report. Between the first edition in 1997 and 2022, the number of millionaires in the world has multiplied by 4.3, amounting to 22.5 million individuals. Their wealth increased 4.5 times to $86 trillion.
The consulting company defines a millionaire as a person with a capital of $1m to invest immediately, excluding real estate assets.
In 2021, there were 7.8% more millionaires in the world, high net worth individuals who saw their assets grow by 8%. “2021 was a very good year, thanks to the economic recovery driven by the stock market,” said Ben Weekers, senior director at Capgemini Invent BeLux.
North America has the most millionaires--7.9 million--and the increase in numbers and wealth ($27.7trn) has been the strongest, with respective rates of 13.2% and 13.8%.
Europe, buoyed by the economic recovery, took second place in terms of growth rate with 6.2% more millionaires and 7.5% more assets. Asia, which has long been the most dynamic region, is slowing down, “penalised by the restrictions on activity linked to covid.” There are 7.2m wealthy individuals in the region (+4.2%) with a combined wealth of $25.3trn.
$137.6bn in Luxembourg wallets
Among the 5.7 million European millionaires, there are 46,200 Luxembourg residents. This is approximately one in 15, taking into account the entire resident population. This represents an increase of 7.9% compared to the year before.
Only Denmark (+10.3%) and France (+8.5%) did better.
Assets held by Luxembourg millionaires increased by 8.8% to $137.6bn. The average wealth resident has a fortune of $2.98m. This increase was driven by an 18.7% growth in market capitalisation and a 13% growth in property prices. “National savings as a percentage of GDP increased by 22.3% in 2021,” said Weekers.
The rich are getting richer
The ultra-high net worth segment--people with more than $30m in assets--showed the strongest growth worldwide in terms of wealth (+9.6%) and number of individuals (+8.1%), while millionaires with assets of between $5m and $30m grew by 8.5% in number and 8.4% in assets. The share of millionaires with wealth of $1m to $5m grew by 7.7% in population and 7.8% in wealth.
For Weekers, these figures illustrate the fact that “the richer you are, the more risk you can take” and therefore invest in riskier or less accessible assets, such as private equity, but offering better returns. However, he notes that the growth gap between different wealth categories is narrowing “thanks to better access to information for investors and the democratisation of certain asset classes, notably private market assets.”
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.