Where the World’s Ultra Rich Population Lives
We’ve recently broken down data on the global population of millionaires by city, and even the residences of the world’s top 50 billionaires.
But still, there’s something extremely interesting about dissecting the lifestyles of the ultra rich – particularly in looking at where they live, and also how they tend to migrate when local conditions are not conducive to wealth-building or the safety of their fortunes and families.
Ultra Rich: By Region
Today’s infographic comes to us from HowMuch.net, and it breaks down the population of ultra high net worth individuals that have personal wealth levels exceeding the $500 million mark. It uses information from the 2018 edition of the Knight Frank Wealth Report.
First, we’ll look at these totals on a regional level:
| Region | Population (>$500M wealth) | % of Global Pop |
|---|---|---|
| North America | 2,100 | 31.8% |
| Asia | 1,860 | 28.1% |
| Europe | 1,680 | 25.4% |
| Middle East | 280 | 4.2% |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 280 | 4.2% |
| Russia & CIS | 220 | 3.3% |
| Africa | 120 | 1.8% |
| Australasia | 70 | 1.1% |
| 6,610 | 100.0% |
As you can see, the vast amount of half-billionaires are located in North America (31.8%), Asia (28.1%), and Europe (25.4%). That means that fewer than 15% of these ultra rich live in the Middle East, Australasia, Russia & CIS, Latin America, and Africa combined.
Ultra Rich: By Country
Now, we’ll look at the 14 countries that have greater than 100 ultra rich people (>$500 million) as residents:
| Rank | Country | Region | Population (>$500M wealth) |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | United States | North America | 1,830 |
| #2 | China (Mainland) | Asia | 490 |
| #3 | Germany | Europe | 430 |
| #4 | Japan | Asia | 390 |
| #5 | Hong Kong | Asia | 320 |
| #6 | Canada | North America | 270 |
| #7 | Switzerland | Europe | 250 |
| #8 | France | Europe | 230 |
| #9 | Russia & CIS | Russia & CIS | 220 |
| #10 | United Kingdom | Europe | 220 |
| #11 | India | Asia | 200 |
| #12 | Italy | Europe | 160 |
| #13 | Brazil | Latin America | 130 |
| #14 | Saudi Arabia | Middle East | 120 |
Note: this list excludes second-home owners.
Sitting at the top of the list is the United States with 1,830 people that hold fortunes larger than $500 million. That’s equal to roughly 28% of the global half-billionaire population.
Following the U.S. is China, which counts 810 people as having a wealth over $500 million. These numbers are broken down into Mainland China and Hong Kong on the graph and table, because they were tallied using different sources.
Canada tallies surprisingly high here – the country only ranks #10 globally based on its number of (billionaires), but ranks #6 in terms of half-billionaires with 270 in total.
Lastly, it should be noted that just missing the cut-off on the above list were Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore, three Asian countries that tied with 100 half-billionaires each.
