Asian millionaires are the wealthiest in the world and number the most as well, growing faster than any other segment and controlling $17.4 trillion as of 2015, according to consultant company Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management.
That’s a $9 trillion jump from a net worth of $8.4 trillion in 2006 for Asian millionaires. In comparison, their North American counterparts controlled $16.6 trillion in 2015 and $11.2 trillion in 2006.
The wealthy in Asia — those who have at least $1 million in assets, and who number 5.1 million — are seeing their assets explode in the age of technology, the health care industry and financial services.
Bill Sullivan, head of global financial services market intelligence at Capgemini, told CNN Money that Asia has benefited most from those who are creating an entrepreneurial source of wealth through start-ups.
While Asians saw a 9.9 percent wealth increase last year, North American millionaires slowed to a 2.3 percent growth. The United States still has the highest number of millionaires by individual country, with 15.7 million, followed by the United Kingdom with 2.4 million, Japan with 2.1 million and China with 1.3 million.
Global wealth has soared in the past two decades. In 1996, the rich controlled $16.6 trillion. In 2015, that number had risen to $58.7 trillion, meaning that 47 percent of the world’s wealth is owned by the top 1 percent of the world’s wealthy.
