Economic woes in Spain and the eurozone have seen Spain slip out of the world’s richest countries.
Although credit rating agency Standard & Poor has hinted India may lose investment grade status, India’s entered the world’s top 10 wealth markets in terms of dollar millionaire holdings in 2011.
Global wealth was buffetted by the eurozone debt crisis, natural disasters and economic malaise, according to the report from research firm Datamonitor.
The study revealed that in 2011, the world’s 258 million richest individuals with $50,000 or more in liquid assets, comprised just 7.3% of the total adult population, but accounted for 77% – $61 trillion – of the world’s liquid assets.
The figure represents a slight increase on the 2007 global asset value of $57 trillion owned by the wealthiest individuals.
India and China were the bright spots in a disappointing year for personal wealth and are looking likely to underpin future growth. The US, leading the way as the world’s wealthiest country, and the UK, had strong showings in the rich list.
The cumulative value of liquid assets held by millionaires in emerging economies like Brazil, China, and India are expected to triple from $1.5 trillion to $4.6 trillion between 2006 and 2015, says Datamonitor.
The top 10 countries in descending order were the US, Japan, China, the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, France, Brazil, and India.
Matia Grossi, a senior analyst at Datamonitor, said: “The US will remain the largest high net worth market in the world through 2015, in terms of both number of millionaires and their holdings.
Since the financial crisis of 2008, the US government has stepped up its commitment to ensuring that the super-rich with offshore assets pay their fair share of taxes. This is expected to push many to repatriate at least some of their offshore holdings, boosting the onshore, declared wealth market for the world’s wealthiest country.”
