Global wealth is growing - Switzerland defends top spot

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• Private wealth grew again worldwide last year.
• Switzerland defended its top position in the country rankings.
• The average wealth of an adult (minus debts) in Switzerland amounted to 709,612 dollars (just under 640,000 francs).

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The world became richer in 2023, with this being observed across all wealth classes, said Paul Donovan, Chief Economist at UBS Wealth Management, in a conference call. After the "rare" dip in 2022, wealth development had normalized.

Overall, global wealth grew by 4.2 percent in US dollar terms in the friendly stock market year 2023, mainly thanks to rising real estate prices, following a decline of 3 percent in the previous year. According to the study, the decline at that time was mainly due to currency effects and the strong dollar.

Switzerland remains in the lead

In regional terms, the upturn in wealth creation was led by Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with an increase of 4.8%. Assets also increased significantly in Asia-Pacific (+4.4%), while the Americas were not quite able to keep pace with an increase of 3.6%.

Switzerland defended its top position in the country ranking. The average wealth of an adult (minus debts) in this country amounted to 709,612 dollars, after this figure had slipped to around 685,000 dollars in 2022. The two other top spots were in the hands of Luxembourg (607,524 dollars) and Hong Kong (582,000 dollars).

According to the report, wealth measured in dollars in Switzerland had recovered as well last year as it had done worldwide. But appearances are deceptive, as the value measured in local currency has shrunk by almost 6 percent. This is probably also the reason why the number of millionaires in Switzerland fell slightly to 1.05 million.

Number of millionaires will increase

The opposite was the case around the globe, where the number of dollar millionaires increased. According to the figures, most of them live in the USA with almost 22 million or a share of 38 percent. There are also over six million millionaires in China and around three million in the UK.

With the generally expected increase in wealth, the number of dollar millionaires will also continue to rise until 2028, said Donovan. This is particularly likely in emerging markets, where UBS expects further growth in the value of most assets and sustained economic growth.

UBS also expects an exorbitant amount of 83.5 trillion dollars to be inherited worldwide over the next 20 to 25 years, well over half of which will be in America.