Money

Visualizing the Global Millionaire Population

Published

6 years ago

January 4, 2018

Jeff Desjardins

Visualizing the Global Millionaire Population

A look at wealth by region, fortune size, and city

The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.

When we think of the term “millionaire”, it’s only natural for our thoughts to be skewed towards the famous business magnates that have amassed giant fortunes, like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or Warren Buffett.

However, the reality is that those types of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) with fortunes above $30 million are a fairly rare commodity – and when it’s all said and done, they make up a very tiny percentage of the millionaire population as a whole.

Fortune Size	Number (Globally)	% of Millionaire Population
$30+ mm	160,000	1.0%
$5mm - $30mm	1,500,000	9.1%
$1mm - $5mm	14,860,000	90.0%

The vast majority of millionaires (90.0%) globally have fortunes between $1 million and $5 million, and you’re probably not going to find many of them with a sprawling mansion or a new Rolls Royce in the garage.

In fact, most millionaires drive a Ford.

Local Millionaires

So where will you find all of the world’s millionaires?

They are most likely to be found in big cities – places where they can use and display their wealth. These are also the places where big opportunities tend to be found, so it’s no surprise to see millionaires cluster in world-class cities like New York, Hong Kong, London, Tokyo, or Singapore.

Regions below are sorted by the total millionaires in each city. Data comes from the Knight Frank 2017 report.

Top Cities in Asia

Rank (Asia)	City	Country	# of Millionaires
#1	Tokyo	Japan	279,800
#2	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	227,900
#3	Singapore	Singapore	217,300
#4	Beijing	China	122,100
#5	Osaka	Japan	117,700
#6	Shanghai	China	117,600
#7	Seoul	South Korea	108,100
#8	Taipei	Taiwan	76,700
#9	Mumbai	India	46,100
#10	Shenzhen	China	31,400

Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore are the undisputed millionaire population capitals in Asia, but mainland China is coming up quick from behind.

In just the last 10 years, China has upped its millionaire count by 281% to 719,400 in total – and Beijing (with 122,100 millionaires) now cracks the top five list in Asia.

Top Cities in Oceania

Rank (Oceania)	City	City	# of Millionaires
#1	Sydney	Australia	106,800
#2	Melbourne	Australia	74,800
#3	Auckland	New Zealand	25,600

Australia’s millionaire count has soared 85% over the last 10 years, thanks in part to red-hot property prices.

Top Cities in Europe

Rank (Europe)	City	Country	# of Millionaires
#1	London	UK	357,200
#2	Frankfurt	Germany	128,300
#3	Paris	France	110,900
#4	Zurich	Switzerland	109,200
#5	Geneva	Switzerland	104,300
#6	Munich	Germany	78,900
#7	Moscow	Russia	68,200
#8	Rome	Italy	64,300
#9	Amsterdam	Netherlands	42,600
#10	Brussels	Belgium	34,700

London is the millionaire capital for the world, with 357,200 of them.

Despite its relatively small size in comparison to the European heavyweights, Switzerland also has two cities in the top five: Geneva and Zurich.

Top Cities in the Middle East

Rank (Middle East)	City	Country	# of Millionaires
#1	Dubai	UAE	50,400
#2	Tel Aviv	Israel	35,200
#3	Istanbul	Turkey	27,300
#4	Doha	Qatar	25,800
#5	Abu Dhabi	UAE	17,100
#6	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	16,200
#7	Tehran	Iran	14,000
#8	Jerusalem	Israel	13,100

Not surprisingly, Dubai is the biggest destination for the ultra-rich to flock to in the Middle East.

Top Cities in Latin America

Rank (Latin America)	City	Country	# of Millionaires
#1	Mexico City	Mexico	86,700
#2	São Paulo	Brazil	64,500
#3	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	35,300
#4	Buenos Aires	Argentina	15,400
#5	Bogota	Colombia	14,900
#6	Santiago	Chile	10,800

Mexico City, and then the two big ones in Brazil (São Paulo and Rio), are where millionaires congregate in Latin America.

Top Cities in North America

Rank (North America)	City	Country	# of Millionaires
#1	New York City	USA	339,200
#2	Bay Area	USA	180,300
#3	Los Angeles	USA	173,300
#4	Toronto	Canada	109,300
#5	Miami	USA	31,600
#6	Washington D.C.	USA	31,200
#7	Vancouver	Canada	31,100

The U.S. has 4.3 million millionaires, and they are widely dispersed through the country.

The Knight Frank 2017 report lists five cities: NYC, Washington, D.C., San Francisco (incl. Bay Area), Los Angeles, and Miami – all of which, according to their calculations, have more than 30k millionaires.

Canada’s Toronto also has broken the six-digit barrier with over 100,000 millionaires. That puts the Big Smoke in pretty unique company, as only 17 cities globally can make such a claim.

Related Topics:millionaires rich london uhnwi knight frank

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Money

Charted: Who Has Savings in This Economy?

Older, better-educated adults are winning the savings game, reveals a January survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

Published

38 mins ago

April 23, 2024

Pallavi Rao

A cropped chart visualizing the percentage of respondents to the statement “I have money leftover at the end of the month” categorized by sentiment, age, and education qualifications.

Who Has Savings in This Economy?

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.

Two full years of inflation have taken their toll on American households. In 2023, the country’s collective credit card debt crossed $1 trillion for the first time. So who is managing to save money in the current economic environment?

We visualize the percentage of respondents to the statement “I have money leftover at the end of the month” categorized by age and education qualifications. Data is sourced from a National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) report, published last month.

The survey for NEFE was conducted from January 12-14, 2024, by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. It involved 1,222 adults aged 18+ and aimed to be representative of the U.S. population.

Older Americans Save More Than Their Younger Counterparts

General trends from this dataset indicate that as respondents get older, a higher percentage of them are able to save.

Age	Always/Often	Sometimes	Rarely/Never
18–29	29%	33%	38%
30–44	36%	27%	37%
45–59	39%	23%	38%
Above 60	49%	28%	23%
All Adults	39%	33%	27%

Note: Percentages are rounded and may not sum to 100.

Perhaps not surprisingly, those aged 60+ are the age group with the highest percentage saying they have leftover money at the end of the month. This age group spent the most time making peak earnings in their careers, are more likely to have investments, and are more likely to have paid off major expenses like a mortgage or raising a family.

The Impact of Higher Education on Earnings and Savings

Based on this survey, higher education dramatically improves one’s ability to save. Shown in the table below, those with a bachelor’s degree or higher are three times more likely to have leftover money than those without a high school diploma.

Education	Always/Often	Sometimes	Rarely/Never
No HS Diploma	18%	26%	56%
HS Diploma	28%	33%	39%
Associate Degree	33%	31%	36%
Bachelor/Higher Degree	59%	21%	20%
All Adults	39%	33%	27%

Note: Percentages are rounded and may not sum to 100.

As the Bureau of Labor Statistics notes, earnings improve with every level of education completed.

For example, those with a high school diploma made 25% more than those without in 2022. And as the qualifications increase, the effects keep stacking.

Meanwhile, a Federal Reserve study also found that those with more education tended to make financial decisions that contributed to building wealth, of which the first step is to save.