Money

Charted: The Global Distribution of Wealth, by Region

Published

4 months ago

December 27, 2023

Marcus Lu

Article/Editing:

Dorothy Neufeld

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Visualizing the Global Distribution of Wealth by Region

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

The distribution of wealth provides insight into a region’s stage of economic maturity.

As economies grow, they are more likely to have a higher share of adults with greater wealth. Naturally, incomes increase as corporate profitability flourishes, shifting the distribution of earnings.

This graphic shows the share of adults across global regions by their wealth range, based on data from UBS.

Global Wealth Distribution in 2023

Here’s how patterns of wealth compare around the world:

Percent of Global Adults, by Wealth Range	Under $10K	$10K - $100K	$100K - $1M	Over $1M
Africa	22%	4%	1%	1%
Asia-Pacific	28%	19%	20%	17%
China	8%	40%	25%	11%
Europe	6%	12%	27%	27%
India	24%	12%	3%	1%
Latin America	10%	9%	4%	2%
North America	2%	5%	19%	42%

North America and Europe, which have advanced economies, represent the largest share of people in the “over $1 million” range.

China, which is transitioning to a more service-oriented economy, accounts for a large chunk of people within the $10K to $1 million range.

Emerging markets like India account for larger shares of the bottom two wealth ranges.

Overall, inequality within countries and between countries has increased since the 1980s. Yet global median wealth has increased fivefold since 2000, driven by the economic expansion of China lifting the global median level.

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Money

Charted: Which City Has the Most Billionaires in 2024?

Just two countries account for half of the top 20 cities with the most billionaires. And the majority of the other half are found in Asia.

Published

2 days ago

April 25, 2024

Pallavi Rao

A cropped bar chart ranking the top 20 cities with the most billionaires in 2024.

Charted: Which Country Has the Most Billionaires in 2024?

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Some cities seem to attract the rich. Take New York City for example, which has 340,000 high-net-worth residents with investable assets of more than $1 million.

But there’s a vast difference between being a millionaire and a billionaire. So where do the richest of them all live?

Using data from the Hurun Global Rich List 2024, we rank the top 20 cities with the highest number of billionaires in 2024.

A caveat to these rich lists: sources often vary on figures and exact rankings. For example, in last year’s reports, Forbes had New York as the city with the most billionaires, while the Hurun Global Rich List placed Beijing at the top spot.

Ranked: Top 20 Cities with the Most Billionaires in 2024

The Chinese economy’s doldrums over the course of the past year have affected its ultra-wealthy residents in key cities.

Beijing, the city with the most billionaires in 2023, has not only ceded its spot to New York, but has dropped to #4, overtaken by London and Mumbai.

Rank	City	Billionaires	Rank Change YoY
1	🇺🇸 New York	119	+1
2	🇬🇧 London	97	+3
3	🇮🇳 Mumbai	92	+4
4	🇨🇳 Beijing	91	-3
5	🇨🇳 Shanghai	87	-2
6	🇨🇳 Shenzhen	84	-2
7	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	65	-1
8	🇷🇺 Moscow	59	No Change
9	🇮🇳 New Delhi	57	+6
10	🇺🇸 San Francisco	52	No Change
11	🇹🇭 Bangkok	49	+2
12	🇹🇼 Taipei	45	+2
13	🇫🇷 Paris	44	-2
14	🇨🇳 Hangzhou	43	-5
15	🇸🇬 Singapore	42	New to Top 20
16	🇨🇳 Guangzhou	39	-4
17T	🇮🇩 Jakarta	37	+1
17T	🇧🇷 Sao Paulo	37	No Change
19T	🇺🇸 Los Angeles	31	No Change
19T	🇰🇷 Seoul	31	-3

In fact all Chinese cities on the top 20 list have lost billionaires between 2023–24. Consequently, they’ve all lost ranking spots as well, with Hangzhou seeing the biggest slide (-5) in the top 20.

Where China lost, all other Asian cities—except Seoul—in the top 20 have gained ranks. Indian cities lead the way, with New Delhi (+6) and Mumbai (+3) having climbed the most.

At a country level, China and the U.S combine to make up half of the cities in the top 20. They are also home to about half of the world’s 3,200 billionaire population.

In other news of note: Hurun officially counts Taylor Swift as a billionaire, estimating her net worth at $1.2 billion.