The millionaire population in Singapore stood at around 526.4 thousand in 2021 and is projected to increase to about 592 thousand in 2026. This estimated growth in the millionaire population reflects the trend of increasing household wealth in Singapore, which grew by more than 146 percent since 2000.

Millionaire’s playground
In 2022, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Singapore as the world’s most expensive city alongside Hong Kong and Paris. The high cost of living in Singapore is in large part due to the extremely high cost of owning a car, as well as high property and food prices. With the tenth highest average wealth per adult in the world, and relatively low financial inequality, it seems that the residents of Singapore are able to afford life in the city with the third most expensive beer prices in the world.

Declining wealth in old age
The reality, however, is far less glamorous. While the median wealth per adult increased in 2019 from 2018, it was still the second-lowest value in the past five years. Many Singaporeans are feeling the pinch, especially the most vulnerable members of society, such as the elderly, who make up the majority of the workforce in jobs such as cleaning. Worryingly, many Singaporeans are also not financially prepared for retirement. This could lead to increasing inequality in the future, with many people unable to afford the lifestyle that they are accustomed to.

The United States is leading the ranking by number of high networth individuals , recording 26.9 million individuals. Following closely behind is China with 13.9 million individuals, while Lesotho is trailing the ranking with 0 thousand individuals, resulting in a difference of 26.9 million individuals to the ranking leader, the United States. High Net Worth Individuals are here defined as persons with investible assets of at least one million U.S. dollars in current exchange rate terms.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

In 2021, there were around 70 thousand millionaires living in Malaysia. This figure is projected to increase to more than 130 thousand in five years’ time. Should the Malaysian economy continue its less than robust growth, however, this figure might have to be revised.

A positive outlook for the wealthy in Malaysia
2020 was not a good year for both the high-net worth individuals and ultra-high net worth individuals (UNHWI) in Malaysia. Compared to 2019, most were optimistic that the global economy in that year was more conducive to preserving and growing their clients' wealth as a majority of private bankers and wealth advisers in Malaysia reported increases in client wealth in that year. However, the HNWIs and UNHWIs live a life far removed from the average Malaysian. In 2019, only 3.9 percent of adults in Malaysia have wealth exceeding 100 thousand U.S. dollars. By comparison, this figure was 49.4 percent in neighboring Singapore.

Excesses of the ultra-rich
In the past year, the Malaysian public has been exposed to the excesses of the rich and powerful through the 1MDB scandal. This saw the then Prime Minister Najib Razak being accused of embezzling from state funds. The media widely publicized the seizure of luxury handbags belonging to Najib’s wife, each of which costs was more than the average Malaysian’s monthly salary. The public’s distaste for Najib’s extravagant lifestyle was so apparent that when his election rival, Mahathir Mohd, was photographed wearing four-dollar sandals, his picture went viral on social media.