Dubai: For the first time, Asians are leading the charge in the race to generate millions of money.
As of 2015, high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in the Asia Pacific, those who have $1 million (Dh3.6 million) or more in assets, saw their wealth balloon to $17.4 trillion, much higher than the gross domestic product of the United States in 2013 and up 10 per cent from a year earlier.
Rich Asians’ combined wealth have increased massively in recent times, surpassing the ones acquired by millionaires in North America, which had long been a stronghold of wealth. Wealth growth in the Americas has been faltering, hitting a total of $16.6 trillion last year.
There are also now more millionaires in Asia, estimated to be around 5.1 million individuals, than in North America, where HNWI population hit 4.8 million.
The latest figures, released by Capgemini, showed that Asian millionaires now control the bulk of the world’s wealth, which is forecast to nearly double to $100 trillion by 2025, compared to $58.7 trillion in 2015.
HNWI wealth projection, 2006, 2015, 2025 (by region)
Within Asia, Japanese and Chinese millionaires are the “dynamos” to reckon with, driving almost 60 per cent of global HNWI population growth in 2015.
“Asia-Pacific’s HNWI wealth grew by 10 per cent in 2015, which is almost five times North America’s 2 per cent wealth growth in 2015 decelerating substantially from 2014’s 9 per cent growth rate,” Capgemini said.
