Fastest growing millionaire population:
Sri Lanka among 10 economies
Six of the 10 economies with the fastest growing millionaire
populations were in Asia, led by Hong Kong and Vietnam, which each saw
an annual growth of 33 percent.
Others included Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore and India, the 15th
annual World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch’s wealth management division
and consultancy Capgemini said.
Asia’s growth outpaced Europe, where so-called high net worth
individuals increased six percent to 3.1 million, and puts it within
reach of North America, where the number of wealthy rose 8.6 percent to
3.4 million.
The report’s findings illustrate how Asia’s economies are growing
much more quickly than developed countries and, in the process, minting
scores of new millionaires and billionaires. Asia’s growth has been
powered by China and India, whose economies grew 9 percent to 10 percent
last year while European and North American growth was in the low single
digit.
“It is entirely conceivable that Asia would overtake North America in
the near future,” said Wilson So, a managing director at Merrill Lynch
Global Wealth Management. “I would be surprised if that does not happen
very soon.”
The US, Japan and Germany still account for just over half the
world’s 10.9 million wealthy, while China is in fourth place with
535,000, about 58,000 more than in 2009.
Australia has moved up one notch to ninth place, edging out Italy,
while India cracked the top 12 for the first time. It replaced Spain,
which fell to 14th.
While 2010 was the first time that Asia has overtaken Europe in
absolute numbers of wealthy people, it is the second year that Asia’s
combined wealth was bigger than Europe’s.
The world’s wealthy were worth $42.7 trillion in 2010. Asia’s share
of that wealth amounted to $10.8 trillion, putting it in second place
for the second year in a row, just behind North America’s $11.6
trillion. Asia also had a bigger proportion of young millionaires, with
3 percent aged 30 or under. All other regions had 2 percent or less.
Globally, women are increasingly in the ranks of millionaires. The
report found that 27 percent of the world’s wealthy last year were
women, up from 24 percent in 2009. While the majority of wealth is held
by Americans, Japanese and Germans, the authors of the report expect the
distribution to become more diverse over time as developing countries
continue to grow faster than developed ones. www.priu.gov.lk |