Millionaires from Asia now control more wealth than those in North America, Europe or any other region.
Millionaires from Asia now control more wealth than those in North America, Europe or any other region.
Asia's millionaires, mostly from China and Japan, saw their wealth jump by 10% in 2015, the firm's World Wealth Report found.
Millionaires held nearly $60 trillion worldwide last year, four times higher than 30 years ago. That amount could rise to $100 trillion by 2025.
Asia's growth in rich individuals (people with more than $1 million in assets) was high, despite slowing economic growth in China and a weak Japanese economy.
The growth in Asia was driven mainly by financial services, technology and health care industries. The region's millionaires held $17.4 trillion of wealth, compared with $16.6 trillion in North America.
If past growth rates hold, Asia-Pacific is likely to continue to be a dominant force over the next decade, representing two-fifths of the world's wealth, more than that of Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa combined.
Poor performance in US equity markets slowed growth in North America to 2.3% last year, although the US still had the highest number of millionaires with 4.45 million.
Europe's millionaires saw a 4.8% increase in wealth, which was led by Spain despite the country's record unemployment. The UK had the fifth highest number of high net worth individuals, although it only increased 1% to 553,000.
Latin American millionaires suffered a decline in net worth of 3.7%, driven by political volatility and a turbulent stock market in Brazil.
Worldwide, the wealth controlled by millionaires grew 4% last year to $58.7 trillion.
Earlier this year, Oxfam found that the richest 1% now have as much wealth as the rest of the world combined. Very troubling news.
