The Asia-Pacific region has outranked North America for the number of rich people.
Growth in India, China, Indonesia and Thailand means there are more millionaires in the region than in the US and Canada, according to a study released jointly by the consultancy firm Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management.
“Asia-Pacific continues its tremendous run in wealth creation and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon,” said Barend Janssens, head of RBC Wealth Management Asia. “Despite some recent economic issues, the region’s wealth is expected to lead global growth.”
The yearly report counts the number of “high net worth individuals”, defined as those having investable assets of US$1m or more, excluding their primary residence. It found that there are 4.69 million HNWIs in Asia-Pacific, just sliding past North America which has 4.68 million.
The region also outranked North America in 2011 for the number of HNWIs but dropped down again the year after.
This year’s study found that the amount of wealth owned by the HNWIs in Asia-Pacific still lagged behind North America – at US$15.8tn compared with US$16.2tn - but Asia-Pacific was also expected to surpass that this year.
China and India account for 17% of the global increase in new wealth since 2006, driven by a boom over the past decade.
The study does not reflect the market turmoil in China, where a plunge in stock markets since June and China’s yuan devaluation in August have fuelled fears of slowing growth.
The Chinese government is now aiming for about 7% economic growth in 2015, the slowest in 25 years. China’s Premier Li Keqiang said last week the economy faced challenges and downward pressures but there was no risk of a hard landing as the government is fully capable of supporting growth.
The report found that Asia-Pacific HNWIs are more likely to hold their assets in cash than equities, like those in the rest of the world. HNWIs in Asia-Pacific also like to use credit, with a more than a quarter funding assets with borrowed money, compared with 18% in the rest of the world.
• This article was amended on 16 September 2015. An earlier version said the Asia-Pacific region outranked North America for the number of rich people for the first time. This has been corrected to say this is the second time.
