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Rating countries for number of richest families made publich

02 June 2011 12:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. According to a Boston Consulting Group report released Tuesday, the island city-state has the highest concentration of millionaire households in the world, with 16% of all households boasting at least $1 million in assets under management, Wall Street Journal reported.

The figure is far higher than second-ranked Switzerland, where 9.9% of its households are in the millionaire category. Hong Kong came in fourth place, with 8.7%, while the U.S. came in seventh, with 4.5%.

The consulting firm defines â€œassets under managementâ€ as cash deposits, money market funds, listed securities (held directly or indirectly through managed funds), and onshore and offshore assets. It excludes wealth attributed to investorsâ€™ own business, residences or luxury goods.

BCGâ€™s global wealth study, now in its 11th year, also showed that Chinaâ€™s millionaire ranks are swelling: The country boasts 1.1 million households in that wealth bracket, up 31% from the previous year. In terms of number of millionaire households, China is in third place, behind the U.S. and Japan, which have 5.22 million and 1.53 million respectively. (In terms of percentage of overall population, however, Chinaâ€™s millionaires donâ€™t crack the top 15 countries.)

China also saw a big jump in the category of ultra-high-net-worth households â€” those with more than $100 million in assets under management. China is now home to 393 households in this category, which places the country eighth overall in the world. The U.S. has the most ultra-high-net-worth people, with 2,692 households in this sector. Hong Kong ranked 15th with 223 such households.

Not surprisingly, the reportâ€™s findings mirrored whatâ€™s going on in the world economy: People are getting rich quickest in Asiaâ€™s emerging economies. Overall wealth grew fastest in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan), up 17% from the year before and more than double the global average of 8%.

The outlook for emerging economies in Asia continues to be sunny: India and China are expected to increase their net worth at a compound annual rate of 18% and 14% respectively, which would push the regionâ€™s share (excluding Japan) of the worldâ€™s wealth to 23% by 2015, up from 18% in 2010.

Japan, on the other hand, is seeing its fortunes go the opposite way: Overall wealth declined by 0.2% in the Japanese market to $16.8 trillion. Only three years ago, Japan accounted for more than half of all the wealth in the Asia-Pacific region. But by last year, that proportion fell to 44%. Japanâ€™s concentration of millionaires is now 3%, putting the country in 11th place in that ranking.