Graph and download economic data for Net Worth Held by the Top 1% (99th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBLT01026) from Q3 1989 to Q1 2025 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

In 2023, roughly 1.49 billion adults worldwide had a net worth of less than 10,000 U.S. dollars. By comparison, 58 million adults had a net worth of more than one million U.S. dollars in the same year. Wealth distribution The distribution of wealth is an indicator of economic inequality. The United Nations says that wealth includes the sum of natural, human, and physical assets. Wealth is not synonymous with income, however, because having a large income can be depleted if one has significant expenses. In 2023, nearly 1,700 billionaires had a total wealth between one to two billion U.S. dollars. Wealth worldwide China had the highest number of billionaires in 2023, with the United States following behind. That same year, New York had the most billionaires worldwide.

In the first quarter of 2024, almost two-thirds percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by the top 10 percent of earners. In comparison, the lowest 50 percent of earners only owned 2.5 percent of the total wealth. Income inequality in the U.S. Despite the idea that the United States is a country where hard work and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps will inevitably lead to success, this is often not the case. In 2023, 7.4 percent of U.S. households had an annual income under 15,000 U.S. dollars. With such a small percentage of people in the United States owning such a vast majority of the country’s wealth, the gap between the rich and poor in America remains stark. The top one percent The United States follows closely behind China as the country with the most billionaires in the world. Elon Musk alone held around 219 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Over the past 50 years, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio has exploded, causing the gap between rich and poor to grow, with some economists theorizing that this gap is the largest it has been since right before the Great Depression.

Graph and download economic data for Share of Net Worth Held by the Bottom 50% (1st to 50th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBSB50215) from Q3 1989 to Q1 2025 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

As of April 2025, Elon Musk was estimated as the wealthiest person in the United States with a net worth of around 342 billion dollars. Richest people in the United States - additional information Every year since 1982, the American business magazine Forbes has been compiling lists of the 400 richest people in the United States, known as the “Forbes 400.” In addition to that, since 1987, the publication has also been compiling a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world (excluding royalty and dictators), as well as more specialized tops, such as “World's Most Powerful Women,” “America's Richest Families,” “Most Valuable Brands” or “30 Under 30,” which focuses on young entrepreneurs from various fields which have gained millions in the past year by the use of social media, technical innovations and generally new and fresh approaches to business.

The number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in Europe has grown steadily over the past decade. This trend reflects broader wealth accumulation patterns across the continent, with the richest segments of society gaining an increasingly larger share of total wealth. Despite this concentration at the top, recent years have seen some positive signs in terms of overall income inequality reduction in Europe. Wealth concentration at the top From 1995 to 2021, the wealthiest one percent in Europe increased their share of wealth from 22 percent to over 26 percent. During this same period, the bottom 90 percent saw their collective share shrink. This concentration of wealth at the top aligns with the growth in HNWIs observed in countries in Europe. The top 10 percent of wealthy Europeans now own more than the remaining 90 percent combined, highlighting the significant wealth disparity that persists despite the overall increase in HNWIs.

Signs of improving income equality While wealth concentration has increased, there are indications that income inequality in the European Union has been improving in recent years. The Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, has been declining in both the EU and Eurozone since 2014, reaching new lows of 29.6 and 29.8 respectively in 2023. Additionally, the income ratio between the top 20 percent and bottom 20 percent of earners in the EU has fallen from 5.22 in 2015 to 4.74 in 2022. These trends suggest that despite the growth in HNWIs, efforts to address income disparities may be having some positive effects across the broader population.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2025, the United States housed the highest number of billionaires worldwide in 2025. In detail, there were *** billionaires living in the United States as of January that year. By comparison, *** billionaires resided in China. India, the United Kingdom, and Germany were also the homes of a significant number of billionaires that year. United States has regained its first place As the founder and exporter of consumer capitalism, it is no surprise that the United States is home to a large number of billionaires. Although China had briefly overtaken the U.S. in recent years, the United States has reclaimed its position as the country with the most billionaires in the world. Moreover, North America leads the way in terms of the highest number of ultra high net worth individuals – those with a net worth of more than ***** million U.S. dollars. The prominence of Europe and North America is a reflection of the higher degree of economic development in those states. However, this may also change as China and other emerging economies continue developing. Female billionaires Moreover, the small proportion of female billionaires does little to counter critics claiming the global economy is dominated by an elite comprised mainly of men. On the list of the 20 richest people in the world, only one was a woman. Moreover, recent political discourse has put a great amount of attention on the wealth held by the super-rich with the wealth distribution of the global population being heavily unequal.

In 2023, by far the highest number of individuals with net assets of at least ** million U.S. dollars worldwide were residing in North America, reaching over ******* people. Asia recorded the second highest number of UHNWIs in the world with over ******* individuals.A small share owns vast sums of wealthThe vast majority of global wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people. Only *** percent of the global population owns assets worth more than *** million U.S. dollars. The richest people in the world are Elon Mask, Jeff Bezos, and Bernard Arnault. When it comes to women, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers led the ranking of the most affluent women worldwide. The wealth of over ** percent of UHNWIs was self-made. Where UHNWIs live and where they leave Unsurprisingly, as North America is the world region with the highest number of UHNWIs, the United States is the country with the highest UHNWI count. However, Hong Kong, special administrative (SAR) region in China, is the city with the highest number of UHNWIs. Nevertheless, China was the country that recorded the highest outflux of UHNWIs in 2022.

Definition: The distribution of income and wealth is represented by the distribution of total net wealth per capita and equivalised income by quintile. Total net wealth per capita is obtained by dividing the total net wealth of the household by the number of household members. Equivalised income is a weighted per capita income per household member determined by dividing the monthly net household income by the sum of the weights of persons living in the household. In order to form the quintiles, all persons are sorted according to the amount of their total net wealth per capita or their equivalised income and divided into five equal groups. The first quintile contains the 20 percent of those with the lowest net wealth per capita or equivalised income, while the fifth quintile contains those with the highest net wealth per capita or equivalised income. Data source: IT.NRW, Income and Consumption Sample (EVS)

In the third quarter of 2024, the top ten percent of earners in the United States held over ** percent of total wealth. This is fairly consistent with the second quarter of 2024. Comparatively, the wealth of the bottom ** percent of earners has been slowly increasing since the start of the *****, though remains low. Wealth distribution in the United States by generation can be found here.

This table contains 58320 series, with data for years 1999 - 2016 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (20 items: Canada; Atlantic; Newfoundland and Labrador; Prince Edward Island; ...); Assets and debts (27 items: Total assets; Private pension assets; Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs), Locked-in Retirement Accounts (LIRAs) and other; Employer-sponsored Registered Pension Plans (EPPs); ...); Net worth quintiles (6 items: Total, all net worth quintiles; Lowest net worth quintile; Second net worth quintile; Middle net worth quintile; ...); Statistics (6 items: Total values; Percentage of total assets or total debts; Number holding asset or debt; Percentage holding asset or debt; ...); Confidence intervals (3 items: Estimate; Lower bound of a 95% confidence interval; Upper bound of a 95% confidence interval).

Over ** million individuals residing in the United States belonged to the global top one percent of ultra-high net worth individuals worldwide in 2022. China ranked second, with over **** million top one percent wealth holders globally. France followed in third.

This table presents income shares, thresholds, tax shares, and total counts of individual Canadian tax filers, with a focus on high income individuals (95% income threshold, 99% threshold, etc.). Income thresholds are geography-specific; for example, the number of Nova Scotians in the top 1% will be calculated as the number of taxfiling Nova Scotians whose total income exceeded the 99% income threshold of Nova Scotian tax filers. Different definitions of income are available in the table namely market, total, and after-tax income, both with and without capital gains.

Graph and download economic data for Net Change in Total Assets and Liabilities by Quintiles of Income Before Taxes: Highest 20 Percent (81st to 100th Percentile) (CXUCHGASLILB0106M) from 1990 to 2023 about change, percentile, liabilities, tax, Net, assets, income, and USA.

As of 2019, ** percent of millionaires in the United States had a net worth of between *********** and ********************** U.S. dollars. On the other end of the scale, **** percent of millionaires had a net worth of over *** million U.S. dollars.

Graph and download economic data for Net Change in Total Assets by Quintiles of Income Before Taxes: Highest 20 Percent (81st to 100th Percentile) (CXUCHGASSETLB0106M) from 1984 to 2023 about change, percentile, tax, Net, assets, income, and USA.

Income of individuals by age group, sex and income source, Canada, provinces and selected census metropolitan areas, annual.

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.

Definition: Output rate: Share of expenditure in net household income. Reported expenditure includes both final consumption expenditure and other expenditure. The largest share of household expenditure is consumer spending. These are in detail the expenses for food, housing, clothing, health, leisure, education, communication, transport as well as accommodation and restaurant services. In addition to final consumption expenditure, households have other expenditure, which is recorded as so-called ‘other expenditure’ or expenditure for non-consumption purposes. These include: - Voluntary contributions to the statutory pension insurance - Insurance contributions (additional health and long-term care insurance, expenditure on motor vehicle, household contents, liability, accident and other insurance) - Other transfers made and expenditure incurred: (e.g. cash gifts and donations, maintenance payments) - Other taxes not elsewhere specified (e.g. motor vehicle, dog, inheritance or gift tax) - Interest on loans (construction loans, etc., consumer loans) - The statistical differences. These arise when, in individual cases, certain small amounts have not been entered in the budget books. Net household income is calculated by deducting income tax/wage tax, church tax and solidarity surcharge as well as compulsory social security contributions from the household gross income (all household income from gainful employment, from assets, from public and non-public transfer payments and from (sub-)letting). In order to form income quintiles, households are sorted by household type according to the level of equivalised income and divided into five groups of equal size. The first qunitil contains the 20 percent of households with the lowest equivalised incomes, the fifth those with the highest equivalised incomes. Data source: IT.NRW, Income and Consumption Sample (EVS)