The Rise and Fall of Millionaires: Global Wealth Report 2023 Reveals Shocking Statistics

More than 3.5 million people in the world have been banned from calling themselves millionaires since last year. Their wealth has fallen below 1 million US dollars (916,000 euros). This is mainly due to increased inflation and the fall of a number of currencies against the dollar. In 2022, there were 59.4 million people “dollar millionaires” worldwide.

Researchers from the Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS write this in the Global Wealth Report.

It is the fourteenth edition of the annual report in which Swiss analysts try to calculate the wealth of more than 5 billion households in two hundred countries. Credit Suisse and UBS, which manage assets of wealthy individuals, among other things, looked at financial assets (savings accounts, shares) and real estate, among other things.

According to the Swiss researchers, the United States will remain the country with the most millionaires in 2022. The US had 22.7 million millionaires (down 1.8 million from 2021). There were approximately 6.2 million millionaires in China last year, and 2.8 million each in France and Japan. Despite the dip, there will be four times as many dollar millionaires worldwide by 2022 as there were in 2000.

The lower number of dollar millionaires in 2022 illustrates a broader trend. In fifteen years, the total wealth of households worldwide has grown, but that increase came to a (temporary) end last year, according to the Swiss report.

In 2022, households had a combined wealth of $ 454,400 billion ($ 454.4 trillion). That is 2.4 percent less than in 2021. It is the first drop in private wealth since the 2008 crisis.

Wealth per adult fell by an average of 3.6 percent to $84,718. In particular, shares and other financial assets have lost value, according to the Global Wealth Report. Non-financial assets, such as real estate, held more of their value, despite rising interest rates.

Regional differences

Households in North America and Europe saw the most assets evaporate, the analysts said. There, total private wealth fell by $10,900 billion to $256,000 billion. Households also became less wealthy in Asia and Oceania. Latin America is an exception, the report said. There, total household wealth increased by USD 2,400 billion (to USD 15,000 billion); in Africa, total assets grew 1.5 percent to 5,900 billion.

The number of millionaires (in dollars) grew the most in Brazil: by 120,000 to 413,000. And despite the sanctions due to the invasion of Ukraine, the number of Russian millionaires also increased. According to the report, Russia had 408,000 dollar millionaires last year, 56,000 more than in 2021. They do not give an explanation. They do state that the war in Ukraine will lead to a decline in the wealth of Russian households in the coming years.

The dip in total household wealth is temporary, according to the Swiss researchers. Emerging markets in particular, such as India and Brazil, are expected to increase wealth by an estimated 38 percent by 2027.

A version of this article also appeared in the August 16, 2023 newspaper.
2023-08-15 18:56:10
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