In Europe, the variation in average amounts of financial wealth per adult varied considerably as of 2022, from approximately 449,000 U.S. dollars in Switzerland to roughly 1,200 U.S. dollars in Azerbaijan. In Europe, the overall average financial wealth per adult as of 2022 was 84,308 U.S. dollars. In terms of private wealth, Europe held the second highest value in the world, after North America.

What is financial wealth?

Financial wealth, also known as financial assets or liquid assets can include wealth that an individual has in the forms of cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and bank deposits. In addition to financial wealth, wealth can also be measured in other assets, called non-financial wealth. This includes physical assets, such as real estate, land, vehicles, jewelry, and art, just to name a few.

Where do most wealthy individuals live?

Individuals with a net worth over one million U.S. dollars are called high-net worth individuals (HNWI). The United States was the home country to the highest number of HNWIs in 2021. China followed, although their number of HNWIs did not even reach one third of the number in the United States. In Europe, Switzerland is the country with the highest average financial wealth per adult, but with its small population size, the number of HNWIs does not come near the numbers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy – the European countries with the highest number of HNWIs. Considering Switzerland’s small population size, however, it is the country in the world with the highest proportion of millionaires.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the wealthiest one percent of people in the United Kingdom controlled 71 percent of net personal wealth, while the top ten percent controlled 93 percent. The share of wealth controlled by the rich in the United Kingdom fell throughout the twentieth century, and by 1990 the richest one percent controlled 16 percent of wealth, and the richest ten percent just over half of it.

In the 3 years to March 2021, black households were most likely out of all ethnic groups to have a weekly income of under £600.

Estimates of annual household income for the four income types for Middle layer Super Output Areas, or local areas, in England and Wales.

In 2022/23 the mean disposable income per household in the United Kingdom was 40,916 British pounds, while the median disposable income for households was 34,462 pounds

The median annual earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was approximately 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with 34,963 pounds in the previous year. At the start of the provided time period, in 1999, the average full-time salary in the UK was 17,803 pounds per year, with median earnings exceeding 20,000 pounds per year in 2002, and 30,000 by 2019. Wages continue to grow faster than inflation in 2024 Between November 2021 and July 2023 inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, with wages still outpacing inflation as of April 2024. At the peak of the recent wave of high inflation in October 2022, the CPI inflation rate reached a 41-year-high of 11.1 percent, wages were growing much slower at 6.1 percent. Since that peak, inflation remained persistently high for several months, only dropping below double figures in April 2023, when inflation was 8.7 percent, down from 10.1 percent in the previous month. For 2023 as a whole, the average annual rate of inflation was 7.3 percent but is forecast to fall to 2.2 percent in 2024, and 1.5 percent in 2025. Highest and lowest-paid occupations As of 2023, the highest-paid occupation in the UK was that of Chief Executives and Senior Officials, who had an average weekly pay of approximately, 1,576 pounds. By contrast, the lowest-paid occupation that year was that of retail cashiers, and check-out operators, who earned approximately 383 pounds a week. For industry sectors as a whole, people who worked full-time in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector had the highest average earnings, at 955 pounds a week, compared with 505 pounds a week in the accommodation and food services sector, the lowest average earnings in 2023.

In 2023, Switzerland led the ranking of countries with the highest average wealth per adult, with approximately 709,600 U.S. dollars per person. Luxembourg was ranked second with an average wealth of around 607,500 U.S. dollars per adult, followed by Hong Kong SAR. However, the figures do not show the actual distribution of wealth. The Gini index shows wealth disparities in countries worldwide. Does wealth guarantee a longer life? As the old adage goes “money can’t buy you happiness”, yet wealth and income are continuously correlated to the quality of life of individuals in different countries around the world. While greater levels of wealth may not guarantee a higher quality life, it certainly increases an individual’s chances of having a longer one. Although they do not show the whole picture, life expectancy at birth is higher in the more wealthier world regions. Does money bring happiness? A number of the world’s happiest nations also feature in the list of those countries for which average income was highest. Finland, however, which was the happiest country worldwide in 2022, is missing in the list of top twenty countries with the highest wealth per adult. As such, the explanation for this may be the fact that the larger proportion of the population has access to a high income relative to global levels. Measures of quality of life Criticism of the use of income or wealth as a proxy for quality of life led to the creation of the United Nations’ Human Development Index. Although income is included within the index, it also has other factors taken into account such as health and education. As such, the countries with the highest human development index can be correlated to those with the highest income levels. That said, none of the above measures seek to assess the physical and mental environmental impact of a high quality of life sourced through high incomes. The happy planet index demonstrates that the inclusion of experienced well-being and ecological footprint in place of income and other proxies for quality of life results in many of the world’s materially poorer nations being included in the happiest.

The years 2001/2002-2020/2021 indicated a period where the median disposable income generally increased. In 2001/02 the median disposable household income for retired individuals amounted to 17,000 British pounds. By 2019/20 the median disposable household income for retired individuals had increased to 23,500 British pounds, a net increase of approximately 7,000 GBP.

Selfridges is one of the oldest department stores in the United Kingdom. Now with a net worth of 38.6 million British pounds, the retailer has been in business more than a century. The company has only four Selfridges & Co. department stores across the UK. In 2023 the company had a monthly average of more than 3,100 employees.

Difficult times

As shown in this statistic, Selfridges maintained a steady financial position up until 2019 with a general upwards trend in their net worth. This is reflected in the company's annual revenue, which consistently increased until February 2020. However, the company's net worth peaked in 2018 and since then has fallen drastically, to a value almost one tenth of the size in 2023.

Competitors

As a result of these difficult times, established retailers like Debenhams and House of Fraser had to shut down many of their stores before being saved from bankruptcy by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct. In such a turbulent trading environment. The leader in the luxury department store market is Harrods, which has a significantly higher net worth than Selfridges.

In 2024, the average annual full-time salary for men in the United Kingdom was 40,035 British pounds, compared with 34,000 pounds for women, a difference of just over 6,000 pounds. In the previous year, men earned an average annual salary of 37,382, compared with women who earned 31,672.

In 2023, the highest average amount of disposable income for any age group occurred in the 35 to 44-year-old group, while the age group with the lowest average disposable income were those aged 85 and over.

The median annual earnings in the United Kingdom was 37,430 British pounds per year in 2024. Annual earnings varied significantly by region, ranging from 47,455 pounds in London to 32,960 pounds in the North East. Along with London, two other areas of the UK had median annual earnings above the UK average; South East England, and Scotland, at 39,038 pounds and 38,315 pounds respectively. Regional Inequality in the UK Various other indicators highlight the degree of regional inequality in the UK, especially between London and the rest of the country. Productivity in London, as measured by output per hour, was 33.2 percent higher than the UK average. By comparison, every other UK region, except the South East, fell below the UK average for productivity. In gross domestic product per head, London was also an outlier. The average GDP per head in the UK was 31,947 pounds in 2021, but for London it was 56,431 pounds. Again, the South East's GDP per head was slightly above the UK average, with every other region below it. Within London itself, there is also a great degree of inequality. In 2021, for example, the average earnings in the historic City of London borough were 1,138 pounds per week, compared with 588 pounds in Redbridge, a borough in the North East of London. Wages finally catch up with inflation in 2023 After the initial economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, wages began to steadily grow in the UK. This reached a peak in June 2021, when weekly wages for regular pay were growing at 7.3 percent, or 5.2 percent when adjusted for inflation. By that November, however, prices began to rise faster than wage growth, with inflation surging throughout 2022. In October 2022, for example, while regular pay was growing by 6.1 percent, the inflation rate had surged to 11.1 percent, Although inflation peaked in that month, it wasn't until June 2023 that wages started to outpace inflation. By this point, the damage caused by high energy and food inflation has precipitated the worst Cost of Living Crisis in the UK for a generation.

In 2022, the majority of Indian adults had a wealth of 10,000 U.S. dollars or less. On the other hand, about 0.1 percent were worth more than one million dollars that year. India The Republic of India is one of the world’s largest and most economically powerful states. India gained independence from Great Britain on August 15, 1947, after having been under their power for 200 years. With a population of about 1.4 billion people, it was the second most populous country in the world. Of that 1.4 billion, about 28.5 million lived in New Delhi, the capital. Wealth inequality India suffers from extreme income inequality. It is estimated that the top 10 percent of the population holds 77 percent of the national wealth. Billionaire fortune has increase sporadically in the last years whereas minimum wages have remain stunted.

The median hourly earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was 18.72 British pounds in 2024, compared with 17.48 pounds in the previous year. At the start of this provided time period, in 1997, the average hourly wage in the UK was 7.92 pounds per hour, rising to more than ten pounds per hour by 2003, and above 15 pounds per hour by 2020. Minimum and living wage in the UK In the United Kingdom, employers are expected to pay their employees a minimum wage that is determined by how old they are. Under 18s for example, had a minimum wage of 5.28 British pounds in 2023, with the figure increasing to 7.49 pounds those aged 18 to 20, 10.18 for 21 to 22 year old's, and 10.42 for those aged 23 and over. There is also a voluntarily paid living Wage that employers can choose to pay their workers. For the 2023/24 financial year this was twelve pounds an hour, rising to 13.15 pounds an hour for workers based in London. Icelandic the highest earners in Europe Iceland had the highest average annual wage in the Europe in 2022 at around 79,500 U.S dollars. This was followed by Luxembourg at 78,300 dollars, Switzerland at 72,990 and Belgium at 64,850 dollars. The United Kingdom’s average annual wage amounted to around 53,985 U.S dollars in the same year. In this year, the country with the lowest annual salary in Europe was Greece, at 25,980 pounds per year.

In 2024, gross domestic product per capita in the United Kingdom was 36,977 British pounds, compared with 37,028 pounds in the previous year. This was the second-consecutive year that GDP per head has fallen in the UK, with the measure shrinking by 0.9 percent in 2023. In general, while GDP per capita has grown quite consistently throughout this period, there are noticeable declines, especially between 2007 and 2009, and between 2019 and 2020, due to the Global Financial Crisis, and COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. Why is GDP per capita falling when the economy is growing? During the last two years that GDP per capita fell in the UK, the overall economy grew by 0.4 percent in 2023 and 0.9 percent in 2024. While the overall UK economy is therefore larger than it was in 2022, the UK's population has grown at a faster rate, resulting in the lower GDP per capita figure. The long-term slump in the UK's productivity, as measured by output per hour worked, has meant that the gap between GDP growth and GDP per capita growth has been widening for some time. Economy remains the main concern of UK voters As of February 2025, the economy was seen as the main issue facing the UK, just ahead of immigration, health, and several other problems in the country. While Brexit was seen as the most important issue before COVID-19, and concerns about health were dominant throughout 2020 and 2021, the economy has generally been the primary facing voters issue since 2022. The surge in inflation throughout 2022 and 2023, and the impact this had on wages and living standards, resulted in a very tough period for UK households. As of January 2025, 57 percent of households were still noticing rising living costs, although this is down from a peak of 91 percent in August 2022.

Housing affordability in the UK has worsened notably since 2020, with the share of income spent on mortgage rising for first-time and repeat buyers. In 2023, homebuyers spent, on average, 20.6 percent of their income on mortgage payments, 4.4 percentage points higher than in 2020. This increase was higher for first-time buyers than for repeat buyers. House prices have soared since the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a dramatic increase in interest rates. As fewer people can afford to buy a home, the number of mortgage approvals for house purchase has dropped.

Wages in the United Kingdom grew by approximately 5.9 percent in January 2025, although when adjusted for inflation, wages only grew in real terms by 2.1 percent. When bonus pay is included in wage growth calculations, wages grew by 5.8 percent in nominal terms, and by 2.2 percent in real terms. Twenty months of inflation outpacing wages Between November 2021 and June 2023 inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, resulting in falling real terms earnings throughout this 20-month period. While UK inflation peaked at 11.1 percent in October 2022, it was not until April 2023 that it fell below double figures, and not until May 2024 that it reached the Bank of England's target of two percent. Forecasts from the Autumn 2024 budget predict that the annual UK inflation will for 2024 will be 2.5 percent, down from 7.3 percent in 2023 and 9.1 percent in 2022. Due to high inflation, the UK's minimum wage also rose quite significantly during this period, with the "main" rate increasing from 8.91 pounds per hour in 2021 to 12.21 pounds per hour for 2025. Average earnings and gender pay gap For full-time workers in the United Kingdom, the median average annual earnings was 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with 34,663 pounds in 2023. In London, average earnings were significantly higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds. Just two other areas of the United Kingdom, the South East and Scotland, had annual salaries above the UK average. North East England had the lowest average salary, at 32,960 pounds. As of 2024, the gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings in the UK was 13.1 percent for all workers, falling to seven percent for full-time workers and -3 percent for part-time workers. Compared with 1997, when the gender pay gap was 27.5 percent for all workers, there has been a degree of progress, although, at current trends, it will be some time before the gap is closed entirely.

In February 2025, employees in the United Kingdom were earning a median pay of 2,465 British pounds per month, compared with 2,474 in the previous month.

The average net selling value of electricity used by the commercial sector in the United Kingdom (UK) came to over 20 pence per kilowatt-hour sold in 2022. The average net selling value of electricity more than doubled in the period in consideration, from 10.11 pence per kilowatt-hour of electricity sold in 2010.