The number of millionaires will fall in the UK over the next five years, bucking the trend of double-digit growth across most other major economies, according to a new report published today.
There are currently 2.19m US dollar millionaires in the UK, according to research by Credit Suisse. However, the Swiss bank forecasts that number will fall by three per cent by 2022 to reach 2.13m, citing "the expected poor performance of the United Kingdom [economy] after Brexit".
The report, widely seen as one of the most authoritative sources on global wealth, showed wealth per adult declined by one per cent over the course of 2016 in dollar terms, mainly because of the fall in the value of sterling after the Brexit vote.
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| Country | 2017 ('000) | 2022 ('000) | Change (%) |
| US | 15356 | 17784 | 16% |
| Japan | 2693 | 3821 | 42% |
| UK | 2189 | 2126 | -3% |
| Germany | 1959 | 2240 | 14% |
| China | 1953 | 2748 | 41% |
| France | 1949 | 2258 | 16% |
| Italy | 1288 | 1451 | 13% |
| Australia | 1160 | 1699 | 46% |
| Canada | 1078 | 1453 | 35% |
| Korea | 686 | 972 | 42% |
| Switzerland | 594 | 670 | 13% |
| Spain | 428 | 506 | 18% |
| Taiwan | 381 | 501 | 31% |
| Belgium | 340 | 405 | 19% |
| Sweden | 335 | 408 | 22% |
| Netherlands | 335 | 373 | 11% |
| Austria | 250 | 287 | 15% |
| India | 245 | 372 | 52% |
| Brazil | 164 | 296 | 81% |
| Russia | 132 | 196 | 49% |
| Hong Kong | 119 | 138 | 16% |
| Mexico | 84 | 88 | 5% |
| Argentina | 30 | 68 | 127% |
| Africa | 121 | 210 | 73% |
| Asia-Pacific | 6069 | 8552 | 41% |
| China | 1953 | 2748 | 41% |
| Europe | 10763 | 12115 | 13% |
| India | 245 | 372 | 52% |
| Latin America | 460 | 706 | 54% |
| North America | 16440 | 19245 | 17% |
| World | 36051 | 43948 | 22% |
The FTSE 100 has surged since the vote, in part because of the higher sterling value of dollar earnings after the currency crash. However, that was not enough to offset the decline in the dollar value of British-held assets.
In dollar terms wealth per adult in the UK is still 14 per cent below the level reached in 2007, the last year before the global financial crisis took hold.
Under the Credit Suisse model the number of British dollar millionaires will lag behind the US and Japan, which will see increases of 16 per cent and 42 per cent respectively in the number of people to reach the psychologically important mark.
The US remained far ahead of other nations in terms of the number of millionaires, almost half of the 36m worldwide. The world's richest nation gained more than one million millionaires during the last year.
Total global wealth rose by 6.4 per cent in the year to mid-2017, the fastest pace since 2012. Wealth has been boosted by the rise in equity markets which pushed global wealth above the 2007 level for the first time.
Worldwide wealth stood at $280 trillion at the middle of the year. Global GDP, for comparison, reached $75.5 trillion in 2016, according to the World Bank.
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