Johannesburg was the wealthiest city in Africa as of 2021. South Africa's biggest city held 239 billion U.S. dollars in private wealth, while Cape Town followed with 131 billion U.S. dollars. The country led the ranking of wealthiest nations in Africa. The wealth value referred to assets such as cash, properties, and business interests held by individuals living in each country, less liabilities. Moreover, government funds were excluded.

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 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.

In 2022, Mumbai was home to the highest number of millionaires, followed by India’s capital New Delhi, and the IT capital - Bengaluru. This comes as no surprise since all three cities have the largest share of high net worth households along with a booming economic outlook. Overall, India had around 187 billionaires as of March 2023, and ranked third globally in terms of its ultra-net-worth individuals.

A growing wealth gap

Despite this, India also has a very high wealth inequality with millions of people living below the poverty line. In fact, according to the last census, the state of Maharashtra (with Mumbai as its capital city) had the highest number of slums across the country with over 2.5 million households. Furthermore, according to a 2015 study on the geography of the super-rich, Bangalore was ranked first in terms of the inequality between its rich and poor, with the wealth of the city’s billionaires being 646,407 times that of the average per capita GDP in the city. Mumbai came second in this listing, while Delhi was ranked fifth.

It's a rich man's world

As of 2018, the richest 10 percent of Indians owned 77.4 percent of the country’s wealth. The Indian economy was also seen to be one of the fastest growing economies across the world. This indicates the level of unequal distribution of wealth in the country. This is a matter of grave concern and has several implications in terms of the country’s development and progress.

As of January 2024, Zhong Shanshan topped the list of the richest people in China with a net worth of 63 billion U.S. dollars. Huang Zheng, founder of Pinduoduo, and Ma Huateng, founder of the IT giant Tencent, came in second and third respectively, while Ma Yun, founder of the IT giant Alibaba, fell back to the tenth place.

Ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI) in China

Net worth refers to the amount of value by which an individual’s assets exceed their liabilities. It is usually cited to demonstrate the economic position of a person. Following China’s extensive economic development over the past two decades, the number of wealthy people had been rapidly growing as well. According to Hurun Research Institute, Greater China was the region with the largest number of billionaires worldwide as of 2024, with a total number of 814 billionaires. As of January 2022, the number of millionaires had amounted to approximately 20,400 people in Beijing alone. Unsurprisingly, the majority of high-net worth individuals lives in one of the four first-tier cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

Chinese billionaire's sources of wealth

Chinese millionaires have accumulated their wealth primarily as private entrepreneurs. Most of the people listed among the 20 wealthiest Chinese in 2024 had owned their own companies. Zhong Shanshan, who topped the list of richest people in China in 2024, has made his fortune as founder of the beverage company Nongfu Spring.

In 2023, by far the highest number of individuals with net assets of at least 30 million U.S. dollars worldwide were residing in North America, reaching over 250,000 people. Asia recorded the second highest number of UHNWIs in the world with over 165,000 individuals.A small share owns vast sums of wealthThe vast majority of global wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people. Only one percent of the global population owns assets worth more than one 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 70 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.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2024, the city with the highest number of billionaires in 2024 was New York. In detail, 119 billionaires resided in the American city. Furthermore, 97 billionaires lived in London, while Mumbai had a billionaire population of 92 individuals. New York was the only city in the world with more than 100 billionaires that year. Mega-cities of the world A large number of the world’s billionaires are concentrated in a select number of the world’s mega-cities. This has as much to do with the location of their wealth, business interests, and further earning potential, as does the quality of life in those cities. A look at the most significant industries in the global billionaire production line helps to explain the prominence of the traditional capitals of global business including New York, London and Hong Kong. The place of many Chinese cities on the list can in part be explained by the strong performance of industrial conglomerates from the country in recent years. Economic growth in China While New York is the city with the highest number of billionaires, China now boasts the most billionaires of any country in the world. However, eight of the top ten wealthiest billionaires still came from the United States as of 2024.

With a net worth of 212.1 billion U.S. dollars, Bernard Arnault & family, the founder and CEO of the luxury brand LVMH, was the wealthiest man in the world in February 2024. The wealthiest people in the world Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, came second with a wealth of 194.6 billion U.S. dollars. Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos followed in third. All the 10 richest people in the world were men. Wealth distribution worldwide As of 2022, one percent of people held nearly half of the world's combined wealth. Moreover, 2.8 billion of the world's population hold a combined wealth of less than 10,000 U.S. dollars, compared to 59 million people having a combined wealth of one billion dollars or more, underlining the vast inequalities around the world. Where do the most affluent people live? Most millionaires live in the United States, while Hong Konk was the city hosting the largest number of high net worth individuals worldwide. The country with the highest number of billionaires is China.

Guyana was the South American country 20360the highest gross national income per capita, with 20,360 U.S. dollars per person in 2023. Uruguay ranked second, registering a GNI of 19,530 U.S. dollars per person, based on current prices. Gross national income (GNI) is the aggregated sum of the value added by residents in an economy, plus net taxes (minus subsidies) and net receipts of primary income from abroad. Which are the largest Latin American economies? Based on annual gross domestic product, which is the total amount of goods and services produced in a country per year, Brazil leads the regional ranking, followed by Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. Many Caribbean countries and territories hold the highest GDP per capita in this region, measurement that reflects how GDP would be divided if it was perfectly equally distributed among the population. GNI per capita is, however, a more exact calculation of wealth than GDP per capita, as it takes into consideration taxes paid and income receipts from abroad. How much inequality is there in Latin America? In many Latin American countries, more than half the total wealth created in their economies is held by the richest 20 percent of the population. When a small share of the population concentrates most of the wealth, millions of people don't have enough to make ends meet. For instance, in Brazil, about 5.32 percent of the population lives on less than 3.2 U.S. dollars per day.

In 2023, 225,000 individuals with net assets of at least 30 million U.S. dollars were residing in the United States, by far the highest number of any country. By comparison, China, which had the second highest number of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs), had less than 100,000 individuals with assets amounting to 30 million U.S. dollars or more.Place of residence of ultra high net worth individuals The residency of almost half of the world’s ultra high net worth individuals in the United States explains the dominance of North America in regard to the number of ultra high net worth individuals by region. Hong Kong was the city with the most UHNWIs in 2022, followed by New York, London, and Los Angeles. Source of wealth and gender differences A majority of the world's UHNWIs are self-made. However, looking at billionaires, there is a clear difference between men and women; whereas a majority of billionaire men were self-made, a majority of the women had inherited their fortune.

This dataset provides values for GDP PER CAPITA reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2024, China housed the highest number of billionaires worldwide in 2024. In detail, there were 814 billionaires living in China as of January that year. By comparison, 800 billionaires resided in the United States. India, the United Kingdom, and Germany were also the homes of a significant number of billionaires that year. United States lost 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. However, the United States has lost their place as the country with the most billionaires in the world to China. This rise of billionaires in China has coincided with the liberalization of its economy and successive high growth rates. However, North America still leads the way in terms of the highest number of ultra high net worth individuals – those with a net worth of more than fifty 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.

Cities in the United States dominate the list of cities with the highest number of ulta high net worth individuals (UHNWI) in 2023. This comes as no surprise as it is the country with the highest number of UHNWIs. New York had 16,630 individuals with a net worth exceeding 30 million U.S. dollars, followed by Hong Kong with 12,545 individuals.

In 2022, about 40 percent of adults in Mexico held a net worth under 10,000 U.S. dollars. In contrast, merely 393,000 Mexicans (that is, 0.4 percent of the total) had a net worth of over one million U.S. dollars. Mexico is one of the most unequal countries in Latin America regarding wealth distribution, with 78.7 percent of the national wealth held by the richest ten percent of the population.

The minimum salaryThe minimum wage per day guaranteed by law in Mexico was decreed to increase by 22 percent between 2021 and 2022, reaching 172.87 Mexican pesos in 2022. In the Free Zone located near the northern border the minimum daily wage was raised to 260.34 Mexican pesos.This represented the fourth consecutive incrase since 2019, but could prove to be insufficient to maintain the wellbeing of Mexican workers after the soaring inflation rate registered in 2022 and the economic impact of the COVID-19 in Mexican households. The legal minimum salary has a long history in the North American country, it was first implemented with the approval of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States in 1917. Income inequality in Latin AmericaLatin America, as other developing regions in the world, generally records high rates of inequality, with a Gini coefficient ranging between 38 and 54 among the region’s countries. Moreover, many of the countries with the biggest inequality in income distribution worldwide are found in Latin America. According to the Human Development Report 2019, wealth redistribution by means of tax transfers improves Latin America's Gini coefficient to a lesser degree than it does in advanced economies. Wider access to education and health services, on the other hand, have been proven to have a greater direct effect in improving Gini coefficient measurements in the region.

In 2024, an estimated 461,000 people in South Korea owned financial assets worth one billion South Korean won or more. This was a year-on-year increase of around one percent. The rise in stock prices was, among other things, the key reason for the jump in the wealth of these millionaires. High-net-worth-individuals (HNWIs) in South Korea High-net-worth individuals (HNWI) refer to persons with a net worth of over one million U.S. dollars including their primary residence. The number of HNWIs in South Korea has risen steadily in recent years. While there were about 481 thousand HNWIs in 2016, the number exceeded 830,000 in 2021 and is expected to double the 2015 figure by 2026. South Korea was among the top 15 countries with the most ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), whose net assets, including their homes, exceed 50 million U.S. dollars. Who are the wealthiest people in South Korea? In recent years, South Korea has also seen an increase in the number of billionaires, with the capital Seoul being one of the leading cities in the world with the most resident billionaires. With a net worth of around 11.5 billion U.S dollars, Lee Jae-yong (Jay Y. Lee), executive chairman of Samsung Electronics and son of the late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, was the wealthiest person in South Korea as of 2024. Seo Jung-jin, the founder of South Korea's biopharmaceutical company Celltrion, followed and led the wealth ranking along with Samsung boss Lee.

In 2022, from the total national wealth in Mexico, 79.1 percent belonged to the top ten percent group. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent had a total of -0.3 percent, which means that, on average, the bottom half has more debts than assets. Further, the average personal wealth of the top one percent was valued at 2.91 million euros.

This statistic presents the estimated net worth of the 15 wealthiest media entrepreneurs in the United States in 2013. Michael Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Mayor of New York City, was the wealthiest media entrepreneur of the United States in 2013 with an estimated net worth of 31 billion dollars. In 2012, his wealth amounted to around 25 billion.

Media entrepreneurs – additional information

One of the world’s wealthiest media entrepreneurs, David Geffen was, as of March 2014, also one of the world’s leading art collectors with a collection valued at 1.1 billion U.S. dollars. Geffen’s wealth comes from his career as a producer and a film studio executive. In 1994 he founded DreamWorks SKG alongside Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg. DreamWorks was the studio behind blockbuster films such as ‘Saving Private Ryan’, ‘Gladiator’ and ‘Shrek’.

The social media industry has also created a selection of successful and wealthy entrepreneurs, as demonstrated in a ranking of the richest social media entrepreneurs, as of June 2014 by net worth. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google both top the list in first and second place with a personal net worth of 31.6 and 31.2 billion U.S. respectively. In third place is the founder of Facebook Marc Zuckerberg with an estimated personal net worth of 29.8 billion U.S. dollars.

However, Page, Brin and Zuckerberg do not top the list of the world’s richest internet billionaires of 2013. That title belonged to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon who as of March 2013 had an estimated personal net worth of 25.2 billion U.S. dollars. Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 and in August 2013 he purchased The Washington Post for a reported 250 million U.S. dollars, in cash.

Dieter Schwarz, according to Forbes, was the wealthiest person in Germany as of 2025, with assets amounting to around 38.5 billion U.S. dollars. Dieter Schwarz is the owner of the Schwarz Gruppe, which owns both the supermarket chains Kaufland and Lidl. Klaus-Michael Kühne follows in second place. Among other things, he is the majority owner of the logistics company Kühne + Nagel International AG. Who are the richest people in Germany? Dieter Schwarz is the owner of the Schwarz Gruppe, which owns both the supermarket chains Kaufland and Lidl. In 2023, the Schwarz Gruppe recorded around 56.55 million euros in revenue. Karl Albrecht Jr. is the owner of the popular discount grocery store chain Aldi Süd. As of 2023, there were over 2,000 Aldi Süd stores in Germany. This, of course, does not include all the stores in other countries such as Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Australia, just to name a few. German salaries Germany currently has the highest GDP in Europe. However, this does not mean that everyone in Germany is a billionaire. The average salary is, in fact, around 48,380 euros. Although the trend is that German salaries have been on the rise since 2000, there has been a dip since 2019. This is probably due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inflation of 2022.

House prices vary widely in the United Kingdom (UK), but housing in certain cities and counties is substantially pricier than in others. Surrey, for example, concentrated four of the most expensive towns to buy a home, including Virginia Water, Cobham, and Esher. With an average house price of over one million British pounds as of June 2024, housing in these towns cost roughly four times the national average. How did house prices change since the COVID-19 pandemic? Since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, demand for housing has been especially high, causing house prices to soar. Among major UK cities, the house price increase was most prominent in Belfast, where it rose by 5.5 percent in 2024. According to the UK House Price Index, the average annual house price increase on a national level was even higher. How long does it take to sell a house? With the demand for housing going strong and inventory running low, aspiring homeowners need to act faster than ever when making an offer on a home. The average number of days on market has continued shortening since the start of 2021 and was a little over a month as of October 2021. Surprisingly, selling a property took the longest in the UK’s most competitive market - London.

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.