How much you need to be worth to be in the world’s richest 1%

·18 Sep 2017

Recent findings by economic researchers show that the world’s richest individuals are the most likely to dodge their taxes and feed their wealth into offshore bank accounts.

The research papers, published this week, investigated the trend in high net worth individuals moving assets and wealth offshore to avoid paying taxes.

They found that top 0.01% households are 13 times more likely to hide assets than those in the top 1%, and that they would avoid paying 30% of the income taxes due.

According to the the researchers, the average estimated net worth of a top 1% wealth holder is $2 million, with the top 0.5% at $3 million.

From here, the percentiles rocket, with the top 0.01% wealth holders – those most likely to avoid paying the largest portion of tax – being worth $45 million.

How many South Africans qualify

According to Credit Suisse‘s wealth data for the end of 2016, to qualify as one of the world’s richest 1%, you would have to meet a much lower barrier – ‘only’ having to have a net worth of around $744,400 (R9.8 million) – of which 66,000 South Africans qualify, the report said.

Going by the Cambridge findings – at a threshold of $2 million – a much smaller number of South Africans would actually qualify: under 35,000 or so.

To be considered part of the top 1% of wealthy individuals in South Africa, you would have to fall within the 450,000 richest people in the country. Previous data

Net worth bands	% of population	No. of adults
$1 million +	0.1%	45 000
$100 000 – $1 million	2.5%	798 000
$10 000 – $100 000 million	27.5%	8 668 000
Less than $10,000	69.9%	22 061 000
Total	100.0%	31 572 000

High Net Worth bands	No. of adults
$1 million – $5 million	39 663
$5 million – $10 million	3 453
$10 million – $50 million	2 047
$50 million – $100 million	187
$100 million – $500 million	116
$500 million – $1 billion	10
$1 billion+	7