Dubai: People from Asia, including those from India, the Philippines and Indonesia, appear to be beating their peers when it comes to making money.
A new research has found that the number of new wealthy households in Asian countries is now growing faster than anywhere else in the world.
India is leading the charge in the race to the riches, followed by Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, according to a new research, which covered 32 countries, by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU), sponsored by Citi.
As of 2014, there were 481,000 affluent Indians with financial assets worth $100,000 to $2 million (Dh367,000 to Dh7.3 million). By 2020, that number is going to grow ten-fold to reach more than 4.9 million households.
These rich households belong to the less popular wealth class called the “new wealth builders” (NWB).
Around the world, there are 267 million people, which have a combined wealth of $88 trillion, who fall under this category. By 2020, their combined riches will be around $145 trillion, about twice bigger than the wealth of ultra-rich or high-net-worth individuals.
Unlike the ultra-rich or billionaires, these new breed of rich people are mostly self-made professionals, corporate executives and entrepreneurs. They work as doctors, lawyers, accountants, investment advisers and executives who keep companies running from Dubai to New York to India.
The majority of these people (83 per cent), however, don’t consider themselves rich, according to the EIU survey.
"Don't call NWBs wealthy. Few would agree. Most say that wealth requires $1 million to invest and many set the bar at $2 million or higher," the EIU report said.
Aside from India, another country that is seeing its wealthy population growing faster than in most places is Indonesia. The number of affluent Indonesians is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 41 per cent, from 240,000 in 2014 to 1.9 million in 2020.
Vietnam comes third with its NWB population projected to grow by 35 per cent, from 57,000 to 347,000. In Thailand, the number of new wealthy households will expand from 611,000 to 2.2 million (24 per cent), while in the Philippines, the population of affluent households will grow from 721,000 to 2.5 million (22.8 per cent).
Here’s the top 10 list of countries with the forecast growth rate of wealthy households between 2014 and 2020, and the number of projected affluent population by 2020:
- India (47.4%) 4.9 million
- Indonesia (41.2%) 1.9 million
- Vietnam (34.9%) 347,000
- Thailand (23.6%) 2.184 million
- Philippines (22.8) % 2.471 million
- Hungary (19.8%) 472,000
- Poland (19.1%) 2 million
- Czech Republic (16.8%) 1 million
- Peru (15.8%) 653,000
- Turkey (15.2%) 1.4 million
Source: EIU
