Global millionaire population hits record high

The number of millionaires worldwide and their wealth continued to grow in 2025, reaching new records, driven by strong stock market performance and declining inflation, according to a study published Thursday by Capgemini and cited by AFP.

The consulting firm defines wealthy individuals as those possessing more than $1 million in investable assets, excluding their primary residence, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

Their number increased by 7.9%, reaching 25.3 million people last year—nearly 2 million more than in 2024—according to Capgemini's international study, the World Wealth Report.

Their total wealth rose by 8.7% to $98.3 trillion, a record high and the largest annual increase since 2018.

According to Capgemini, capital markets—boosted by gains linked to artificial intelligence—were the main driver of wealth creation in five of the six major geographic regions examined.

At the same time, wealth remains highly concentrated: 1% of wealthy individuals own 34.8% of total wealth.

In 2025, despite new U.S. tariffs, Wall Street indexes were supported by Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts and enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence, posting gains of between 13% and 20%.

In Europe, investors benefited from the growth of defense companies and Germany’s massive public investment plan. Stock market gains included Frankfurt (+23.01%), Paris (+10.41%), Milan (+31.46%), and London (+21.51%).

The strongest growth in the number of millionaires (9.4%) was recorded in the Asia-Pacific region, driven by the semiconductor industry, with Japan and China leading the way.

In North America, the number of millionaires increased by 9.1%, largely due to the United States, which added the highest number of new millionaires in absolute terms (+736,000, or 9.2%), bringing the total to 8.7 million.

After a decline in 2024, Europe also saw a recovery, with the number of millionaires rising by 6.5%. Luxembourg (+13.5%) and Germany (+11.1%) led the rankings, well ahead of France (+2.7%).

Africa (+4.1%) and Latin America (+0.3%) also posted increases, while the Middle East was the only region to record a decline (-1.4%), mainly due to lower oil prices.

Among the ultra-wealthy population—those with assets of at least $30 million—their number increased by 9.4% to approximately 250,000 people, while their wealth grew by 9.7%.

The survey, conducted in January, included 6,510 wealthy individuals from the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East.

Photo: Chat GPT