In the past year, global wealth reversed a steady upward climb and fell by $12.4 trillion, largely due to currency fluctuations.
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Global household wealth will grow at 6.6 percent annually, slower than the 7 percent estimated earlier, as the overall economic outlook remains weak, Credit Suisse said.
Private wealth fell 4.7 per cent in the 12 months through June 30 to US$250.1 trillion, the first decline since the global financial crisis.
The report estimates that 2,080 adults in India have wealth over $50 million and 940 people own more than $100 million.
“In India it has grown by 150%, while China has experienced a significant increase of 330%”, said the report.
The report highlighted that while wealth has been rising strongly in India and the ranks of the middle class and wealthy have been swelling, not everyone has shared in this growth and there is still a great deal of poverty.
Singapore has a high proportion of middle-class adults (62 per cent), owning US$334 billion of wealth, 31 per cent of the country’s total.
Wealth in China will surge more than 9 percent a year, based on the country’s economy advancing 6.2 percent a year, Credit Suisse forecasts.
According to the report, there are 123,800 ultra-high net worth (UHNW) individuals worldwide, defined as those with a net worth exceeding $50 million. However, it will still lag far behind the United States, which is in the top spot.
Moreover, at the top of the wealth pyramid, the number of US Dollar millionaires in India is projected to rise by 65% in the next five years to reach 3,05,000 in 2020, compared to the current 1,85,000.
This is the latest report to reflect the mainland’s growing number of super rich. A report by Bain and Company with China Merchants Bank in May said the mainland’s high-net-worth individuals – those with individual investable assets in excess of 10 million yuan – exceeded one million past year, twice that in 2010. However, while the global millionaire club lost 2.4 million members, Credit Suisse forecast that its numbers would rise to 49.3 million over the next five years. That compares with last year’s projection of an increase of 7 percent a year to US$369 trillion by 2019.
“Going forward, we expect the global economy to accelerate slightly, with the Chinese economy stabilising as it makes a transition towards consumption and services”.
The median wealth per adult is US$3,379 (R45,300) and the GDP per adult is US$14,679 (R197,000).
Credit Suisse said that at the same time middle income earners have seen their wealth squeezed.
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As few as 38% of adults in the United States qualify as middle class according to Credit Suisse’s criteria.
