Hong Kong surpasses New York as home to the world’s biggest population of ultra-rich people
September 11, 2018 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
New York is no longer home to the most ultra-rich people, beaten by the rising tide of extreme wealth in Asia. Hong Kong surpassed the Big Apple as the city with the highest population of people worth at least USD30 million, according to a new report by research firm Wealth-X. Hong Kong saw the number of ultra-wealthy increase 31% last year, to about 10,000, more than the nearly 9,000 in New York. Tokyo came third, while Paris beat out London to take the European crown as Brexit weighed down the UK capital. The number of ultra-rich worldwide rose 13% last year, according to Wealth-X, totaling about 256,000 people with a combined assets of USD31.5 trillion.
Asia saw the fastest growth, driven by mainland China and Hong Kong. Reflecting the region’s rise, its share of the global population of people with at least USD30 million rose to just over one-fourth, up from around 18% a decade ago. “The Asia-Pacific is forecast to close the ultra-wealth gap with other regions over the next five years, but is expected to remain behind Europe, the Middle East and Africa in absolute terms,” the report’s authors wrote. The number of ultra-wealthy in the Asia-Pacific is expected to rise at a compound rate of 8.3% a year, they said. Women accounted for about 35,000 of the ultra-rich last year, a record-high share of nearly 14%.
While Hong Kong topped the city rankings, no city in mainland China made the top 10, despite the country being third in the list of nations. China’s wealthy are widely dispersed, illustrated by the fact it was home to 26 of the 30 fastest-growing cities for the ultra-rich. “The dynamism of wealth creation across China’s vast landscape is nevertheless staggering,” the authors wrote, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
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