Dubai: For the third consecutive year, the UAE is set to take first place as the world’s leading wealth magnet, with 6,700 wealthy migrants set to make the country their home by 2024’s end. According to Henley and Partners’ annual Private Wealth Migration Report 2024, the millionaire population in the UAE will be significantly boosted by large inflows from the UK and Europe.
With its zero-income tax, golden visas, and strategic location, the UAE remains the world’s biggest magnet for wealthy individuals. “With consistent high inflows from India, the wider Middle East region, Russia, and Africa, the anticipated influx of larger numbers of Britons and Europeans looks set to see the Emirates attract nearly twice as many millionaires as its nearest rival, the US, which is projected to benefit from a net inflow of 3,800 millionaires in 2024,” said the report.
Sunita Singh-Dalal, Partner leading the Private Wealth and Family Offices at Hourani in Dubai, said, “The evolution and development of the UAE’s wealth management ecosystem is unprecedented.” She added, “In less than five years, the UAE has introduced a robust regulatory framework that provides the wealthy with a range of innovative solutions to protect, preserve, and enhance their wealth.”
The Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2024, released Tuesday by Henley and Partners, details the latest projected net inflows and outflows of millionaires with $1 million+ in liquid assets, as tracked by New World Wealth, a global wealth intelligence firm that has been tracking wealth migration trends for over a decade.
128,000 millionaires set to relocate
According to the report, 2024 is shaping up to be a watershed moment in the global wealth migration. Dominic Volek, Group Head of Private Clients at Henley and Partners, said, “An unprecedented 128,000 millionaires are expected to relocate worldwide this year, eclipsing the previous record of 120,000 set in 2023.”
Volek said, “As the world grapples with a perfect storm of geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty, and social upheaval, millionaires are voting with their feet in record numbers.” He added, “In many respects, this great millionaire migration is a leading indicator, signalling a profound shift in the global landscape and the tectonic plates of wealth and power, with far-reaching implications for the future trajectory of the nations they leave behind or those which they make their new home.”
European favourites Italy (+2,200), Switzerland (+1,500), Greece (+1,200), and Portugal (+800) all make it into this year’s Top 10 for net millionaire inflows. Japan, which is on course to welcome 400 wealthy migrants, is boosted in part by an accelerating trend of Chinese HNWIs moving to Tokyo that started post-pandemic, stated the report.
Entrepreneurs make the move
Andrew Amolis, Head of Research at New World Wealth, said the benefits of migrating wealth and talent to these destination countries are significant and wide-ranging.
“Migrating millionaires are a vital source of forex revenue as they bring their money with them when moving to a country. Also, around 20 per cent of them are entrepreneurs and company founders who may start new businesses and create local jobs in their new country. This percentage rises to over 60 per cent for centi-millionaires and billionaires,” said Amolis.
Countries that lost out
The UK is expected to see a net loss of 9,500 millionaires in 2024 — second only to China worldwide and more than double the 4,200 who left the country last year, which was itself record-breaking following the departure of 1,600 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in 2022, said the report.
Post-Brexit, the UK lost 16,500 millionaires to migration from 2017 to 2023. Provisional estimates for 2024 are even more concerning, with a massive net outflow of 9,500 millionaires projected for this year alone.
China is again on track to be the biggest millionaire loser globally, with an anticipated net exit of 15,200 HNWIs this year (compared to 13,800 in 2023). In contrast, India has stemmed its wealth exodus, dropping to third place after the UK, with just 4,300 millionaires projected to leave the country in 2024 (compared to 5,100 last year).
South Korea’s HNWI flight is expected to rise with a forecast loss of 1,200 millionaires (compared to 800 in 2023), while the tsunami of millionaires that fled Russia following the outbreak of the Ukraine war appears to be waning with only 1,000 projected to relocate this year (compared to 8,500 in 2022 and 2,800 in 2023).
