The Swiss are the richest people in the world. This is the conclusion of Credit Suisse (CS) in its annual study on the development of household wealth around the world. The bank presented the “Global Wealth Report”, which has been published for 14 years, on Tuesday for the first time together with UBS, under whose umbrella it had to slip out of necessity a few months ago. According to the report, in 2022 every adult Swiss had an average wealth of just over $685,000. In addition to financial assets, this also includes real estate holdings. It is true that assets have fallen by around $13,000 compared to the previous year, mainly because of the sharp fall in share prices. Nevertheless, the Confederates maintained their top position in the wealthy rankings, which they have held for several years.

The Americans are in second place with an average wealth of $551,400, followed by Hong Kong, Australia and Denmark. Germans came in 16th, with each adult owning an average of $256,000, according to the surveys. So the Swiss are almost three times as rich as the Germans. This is explained not only by the generally high level of prosperity in economically strong Switzerland, which made it through two world wars unscathed. In a virtual press conference, Nanette Hechler-Fayd’Herbe, head of the CS department “Economics & Research”, also attributed the large gap to countries like Germany to the Swiss pension system. In addition to the pay-as-you-go state pension, this also consists of a mandatory occupational pension and a voluntary third pillar, which is tax-privileged. Comparatively large financial assets have automatically built up over the decades.

The number of millionaires in Germany is falling

The wealth of Switzerland is also reflected in the number of dollar millionaires living there. This amounts to 1.1 million. In Germany, which is almost ten times larger than the Confederation in terms of population, “only” 2.6 million millionaires lived in 2022. That was 253,000 fewer than in the previous year. The decline would have been even greater if one had excluded all those whose wealth exceeded the million mark simply because of high inflation.

Globally, wealth has been on the decline over the past year. After a record 2021, in which total net worth soared nearly 10 percent, net worth fell 2.4 percent to $454 trillion. According to the bank’s survey, wealth per adult slipped 3.6 percent to $84,700. A large part of this decline is, of course, due to the appreciation of the dollar against a number of other currencies, including the euro. “At constant exchange rates, total assets would have increased by 3.4 percent,” calculated economist Anthony Shorrocks, who was the lead author of the study. But if you also take into account the effects of inflation, there would be a real asset loss of 2.6 percent for 2022. As Shorrocks explained, the asset losses are mainly due to the fact that financial assets lost some of their value as a result of the stock market slump. Real estate prices, on the other hand, have remained more or less stable. This development has led to wealth being distributed somewhat less unequally. Because the ultra-rich have a higher proportion of shares and are therefore more affected by a downturn in the financial markets than people with middle incomes who own real estate. However, the wealth distribution pendulum could swing back toward greater inequality this year if house prices fall as a result of higher interest rates, Shorrocks said.

The study authors estimate that total global wealth will increase by 38 percent to $629 trillion over the next five years. The number of millionaires is expected to increase by 86 million by 2027. In 2022, the authors found 59.4 million millionaires. That was 3.5 million fewer than the year before. Wealth melted away, especially in wealthy regions such as North America and Europe. Things also went downhill in the Asia-Pacific region. In Latin America, meanwhile, wealth increased. However, exchange rate effects also contributed to this.

Daniel Mohr Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 18 Markus Frühauf Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 7 Markus Frühauf Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 10

Between 2000 and 2022, China’s prosperity grew at a rate equal to that of the United States over a period of more than 80 years. “We expect China’s wealth growth to slow, but still be high enough to close the gap with the US,” the study said. By 2027, China’s household wealth will reach $128 trillion.

2023-08-15 22:29:17
#Wealth #world #Swiss #times #rich #Germans