Asia Tops Europe in Millionaires

Posted: 22 Jun 2011 07:31 AM PDT

For the first time since such records were kept, Asia has more millionaires than Europe.

According to Merrill Lynch and Capgemini's World Wealth Report, Asia has 3.3 million millionaires, defined as individuals with investible assets of $1 million or more. That compares with 3.1 million in Europe. Asia's millionaire population surged 9.7% last year, compared to Europe's slightly more anemic millionaire growth of 6.3%.

While Asia already had surpassed European in the total wealth held by millionaires–$9.7 trillion compared with $9.5 trillion in 2009–last year marked the first time Asia had a larger millionaire population than Europe.

Given its faster growth rate, Asia is likely to surpass North America in millionaires next year. North America had 3.4 million millionaires in 2010 and a growth rate of 8.6%, while many countries or city-states in Asia–including Hong Kong, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Singapore–recorded increases of more than 20%.

The global population of millionaires also hit a new peak, with 10.9 million millionaires, up from 10.1 million in 2007. The wealth controlled by those millionaires hit $42.7 trillion, up from $40.7 trillion at the peak.

On a country-by-country basis, Asia still lags far behind the U.S., the world's leader in millionaires.

The U.S. has more than three times the number of millionaires as No. 2 Germany and six times as many millionaires as China. The U.S. added more than 230,000 millionaires last year–more than the total of 150,000 millionaires in India.

Do you think China will ever surpass the U.S. in millionaires? If so, when?

U.S. Has Record Number of Millionaires

Posted: 22 Jun 2011 07:30 AM PDT

If further proof were needed of the two-speed recovery–the rich and the rest–now comes news that America has a record number of millionaires.

According to the annual World Wealth Report from Merill Lynch and Capgemini, the U.S. had 3.1 million millionaires in 2010, up from 2.86 million in 2009. The latest figure tops the pre-crisis peak of three million.

Merrill and Capgemini define millionaires as individuals with $1 million or more in investible assets, not including primary home, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables.

The wealth held by these millionaires also hit a record. North American millionaires had a combined wealth of $11.6 trillion, up from $10.7 trillion in 2009.

The number of Americans with $30 million is still slightly below the pre-crisis peak. In 2010 there were 40,000 North Americans with $30 million or more, up from 36,000 in 2009.

Why are millionaires doing so much better than everyone else? Financial markets. Remember, the rich depend on financial markets (which have rebounded) while the rest of America depends on jobs and homes for wealth–both of which remain in a slump. According to the report, global equity markets rose 18% in 2010. Since the wealthy have a larger share of their fortunes in stocks, they would have benefited most.

In North America, male millionaires far outnumber female millionaires: 63% of North American millionaires are men, and 37% are women.