PUBLISHED: 04:35 EST, 1 June 2012 | UPDATED: 04:35 EST, 1 June 2012
Even America’s 1 percent had a tough year in 2011, according to a new report.
While the U.S. still has the world’s biggest population of millionaire households, they shrank in number by 2.5 percent to 5.1 million in 2011 compared with a year earlier.
Those declines came as private wealth in America declined 0.9 percent to $38 trillion, as markets were rocked by crises in U.S. government and European debt, according to the Boston Consulting Group’s annual global wealth report.
American hedge fund investor John Paulson has lost millions after a miserable year in which one of his biggest portfolios lost more than half its value
Millionaire households in China rose 16 percent to 1.43 million while those in Singapore climbed 14 percent to 188,000 and India saw a 21 percent increase to 162,000.
BCG estimates that private wealth in India and China will grow at compound annual growth rates of 19 percent and 15 percent, respectively, through 2016, compared with a global growth rate of 4 percent to 5 percent.
More than a third of the global increase will come from China alone.
MILLIONAIRE HOUSEHOLDS 2010
U.S – 5,263,000
JAPAN – 1,640,000
CHINA – 1,239,000
U.K. – 411,000
GERMANY – 320,000
SWITZERLAND – 317,000
ITALY – 274,000
TAIWAN – 247,000
HONG KONG – 209, 000
FRANCE – 199,000
SINGAPORE – 165,000
CANADA – 175,000
INDIA – 134,000
MILLIONAIRE HOUSEHOLDS 2011
U.S – 5,134,000
JAPAN – 1,587,000
CHINA – 1,432,000
U.K.- 411,000
GERMANY – 345,000
SWITZERLAND – 322,000
ITALY – 270,000
TAIWAN – 246,000
HONG KONG – 212,000
FRANCE – 200,000
SINGAPORE – 188,000
CANADA – 185,000
INDIA – 162,000
‘Because of the incredible growth Asia has seen, there has been a lag in terms of developing advisers,’ said Vish Jain, a Singapore-based partner at BCG.
He added that a challenge to profitability for firms working in this region will be Asians’ conservative tendency to keep their money in cash.
Overall, it was a tough year for developed economies, with private financial wealth in North America, Western Europe and Japan dropping a combined nearly 1 percent in 2011.
Worldwide growth in private wealth last year climbed just 1.9 percent to $122.8 trillion, compared with a rise of 6.8 percent in 2010 and 9.6 percent in 2009.
‘Global growth in private wealth is clearly being driven by rapidly developing economies in the ‘new world,’ not by the ‘old world’ of traditional, mature ones,’ the report said.
Millionaire households in China rose 16 percent to 1.43 million
Despite the growth in developing economies, North America was still the wealthiest region globally in 2011, followed by Western Europe.
Although the number of millionaire households fell by a combined 182,000 in the U.S. and Japan last year, globally that number grew by 175,000, boosted by households in developing economies, particularly China and India.
China’s number should continue to grow, ‘driven by the large number of initial public offerings expected in the country, as well as by new wealth generated mainly by entrepreneurs,’ the report said.
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