Where are the world’s millionaires going?
New analysis from wealth consultancy New World Wealth has tracked where the world’s wealthiest people have been moving over the past 10 years.
According to the group’s data, the UK has gained the most high net worth individuals (HNWIs) from abroad since 2003, mostly travelling to the region from other areas in Europe, China and India.
Singapore and the USA were also big gainers in foreign HNWIs, with the former netting expats from China, India, Indonesia and the latter gaining from UK, Europe, India and Russia.
Australia was also a net-gainer of HNWIs, boosted by sy inflows from the Asia Pacific, as well as Europe, the UK and South Africa.
South African HNWIs also moved from their homeland to Canada.
Biggest net gainers of HNWIs, 2003 – 2013
| Country | HNWIs gained |
HNWIs 2013 |
| UK | 114,100 | 815,000 |
| Singapore | 45,000 | 225,000 |
| USA | 42,400 | 4,034,000 |
| Australia | 22,200 | 158,300 |
| Hong Kong | 19,700 | 164,500 |
| Canada | 13,600 | 272,900 |
| UAE | 10,100 | 48,300 |
Countries which lost the most HNWIswas led by China, which lost 76,200 over the last 10 years, followed by India (43,400) and France (31,700).
Chinese HNWIs mainly moved to Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK, while Indian HNWIs tended to move to the UK, the US and Australia, NWW said.
The group noted that a large portion of Swiss HNWIs moved to Singapore, the UK and the UAE – but many were not born in Switzerland, and stayed in the country for tax reasons.
Biggest net losers of HNWIs, 2003 – 2013
| Country | HNWIs lost |
HNWIs 2013 |
| China | 76,200 | 507,800 |
| India | 43,400 | 160,600 |
| France | 31,700 | 244,100 |
| Italy | 18,600 | 124,000 |
| Russia | 14,000 | 82,300 |
| Switzerland | 10,600 | 265,800 |
| Indonesia | 10,000 | 37,000 |
HNWIs refer to individuals with net assets of US$1 million or more, excluding their primary residences.
Global millionaire snapshot
The USA still leads, globally, by being home to the highest number of HNWIs- over 4 million – followed by Japan (1 million), the UK (815,000) and Germany (731,000).
London, England is the city with the most HNWIs (339,200), followed by New York, USA (300,100) and Tokyo, Japan (226,500), while Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland have the highest HNWI density of 5.9% and 4.6% of the population, respectively, being very wealthy.
According to New World Wealth, no Middle Eastern or African cities are in the global top 30 wealthiest cities.
The top ranked Middle Eastern city is Istanbul with 35,000 millionaires in 2013, with Dubai ranked 2nd in the Middle East with approximately 26,000 millionaires.
The highest ranked African city was Johannesburg with just over 23,000 millionaires in 2013.
More on the world’s millionaires
Cities with the most millionaires
South Africa’s millionaires set to grow 78%
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