than one million dollar-millionaires will increase from seven to 12
by 2017, predicts a new Household Wealth Index by UK bank Barclays
and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
By 2017, the number of high net worth households with in excess of
$1 million in the top ten wealthiest countries will almost double
to 62.8 million compared to 34.5 million in 2007. Their combined
wealth will exceed $154 trillion.
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The number of households in excess of $5 million in these ten
countries will reach 5.2 million within ten years, compared to two
million in 2007.
Barclays and the EIU say that while the US will remain at the top
of the index, a number of emerging markets will perform strongly
over the next 10 years.
China will accelerate from seventh to third place in the overall
wealth rankings; India will jump from 14th to 8th place; and Russia
is catapulted from 19th place to 11th place – putting it on the
verge of becoming one of the top 10 wealthiest countries.
Established economic superpowers
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By GlobalDataMichael Dicks, head of research at Barclays Wealth, said: “By 2017
China, Russia and India will overtake some of the world’s most
developed countries, and this suggests that it is no longer
accurate to label these markets as ‘emerging’ and ‘developing’
economies.”
Twelve countries will be home to more than one million
dollar-millionaire households in 2017, compared to seven currently.
The US has a significant lead with an estimated 30 million
dollar-millionaire households expected by 2017.
Despite their considerable progress in the new index, developing
markets are still some way behind in terms of the volume of
dollar-millionaires. The research shows that in ten years from now,
the developed economies will continue to provide the most
significant opportunities for companies that wish to target a high
net worth audience.
The countries with the highest percentages of dollar-millionaires
will remain consistent over the next 10 years. Small, heavily
populated financial centres such as Hong Kong, Singapore and
Switzerland will still top the wealth rankings in terms of density
in 2017.
But countries rising through the ranks in terms of density of
millionaires include Japan, Denmark and the Netherlands, along with
Brazil and Turkey further down the table. The density of
millionaires in China will remain mostly unchanged over the next
decade, causing it to slip down the ranking.
While the clout of the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and
China) may be increasing, the US will, overall, remain unchallenged
in the wealth rankings, the report finds.
It currently has 16.6 million households with overall wealth in
excess of $1 million and this figure is expected to increase to
29.7 million by 2017. Over the next decade, the US will also see
the number of households with wealth in excess of $5 million
increase from 1.4 million to 3.5 million. No other country comes
close to this kind of increase.
Its high net worth households (those with wealth in excess of $1
million) currently wield a colossal $39.8 trillion of wealth
between them, equivalent to almost two and a half times the US’s
annual GDP.
Highly supportive of entrepreneurs
The reasons for the US’s dominance are well understood, Barclays
notes. It has an environment highly supportive of entrepreneurship,
deep and well-established capital markets, world-class
infrastructure and a huge domestic market. The retail investor
culture is also well established in the US.
The Barclays research shows that, out of the net financial wealth
of US households, around 45 percent is held in equities – a far
higher figure than for the other nine countries in the top 10.
Since 2002, the US stock market has recovered well from the bear
market that followed the dotcom bust.”
