Going Eastwards
26/08/2008
Despite slower growth rates compared to 2006, the rich of this world and the total wealth they control continued to increase at healthy pace, according to the 12th annual world wealth report released by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini.
In 2007 the high net worth (HNW) individuals, those with investable wealth of over $1m, excluding their primary residence and collectables, increased 6 per cent (versus 8.3 per cent in 2006) to 10m. Total world wealth swelled to $40,700bn (E26,100bn), growing by 9.4 per cent (versus 11.4 per cent last year).
But high level numbers only tell part of the story. While there was consistent growth rate across the different geographic areas in the first part of last year, the credit crunch deepened the divergence in wealth expansion between mature and emerging economies.
Europe and North America lag behind with annual growth rates in the number of HNWs of 3.7 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively. In the Middle East (15.6 per cent), Eastern Europe (14.3 per cent) and Latin America (12.2 per cent) the number of wealthy people grew much faster. Countries such as China, India or Brazil driven by strong market capitalisation, solid GDP growth, and high savings rates, witnessed the highest growth (22.7, 20.3 and 19.1 per cent respectively).
