Number of Millionaires Keeps Rising

In its latest annual report, Swiss bank UBS shows that while there has been a mixed picture in the development of global wealth inequality, the number of dollar millionaires worldwide keeps on rising and is projected to continue to do so in most countries. Out of the 56 nations in UBS's sample, millionaire numbers are projected to increase until 2028 in 52 - sometimes substantially. Notable exceptions are the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, there will be a projected 17 percent - or around 500,000 - fewer millionaires in 2028 than in 2023.

As the following chart shows, the number of U.S. dollar millionaires has risen sharply since the beginning of the 21st century. In 2000, there were 14.7 million millionaires in the analyzed countries. In 2023, there were 58 million - a fourfold increase in twenty years (300 percent). If we compare this figure with the fight against extreme poverty, the number of people below the global poverty line - which today stands at $2.15 a day - has declined at a much slower rate. At the turn of the century, there were 1.7 billion people living in extreme poverty, compared with around 700 million today, a drop of around 60 percent.

The United States is home to by far the largest contingent of dollar millionaires: 22 million in 2023, representing 6.6 percent of the country's population. Next on this list is China with 6 million (0.4 percent of the population), while France completes the podium with 2.9 million (4.2 percent of the population). China saw millionaire numbers rise especially fast since 2000.