Australia is punching above its weight with Ultra High Net Worth Individuals

Despite the global hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s ultra-high net worth (UHNW) population increased by 2.4% in 2020, reaching an all-time high of 521,653.

In the following chart Visual Capitalist used data from The Wealth Report 2021 by Knight Frank to list the 20 countries with the most UHNW individuals.

And as you can see, Australia has experienced a 57% growth in UHNW individuals since 2015

What is Considered Ultra High Net Worth?

To be considered a UHNW individual, one must have a net worth of at least $30 million.

Net worth is a measure of someone’s current financial position and is calculated as the value of their assets minus their liabilities. The following table lists examples of each:

Assets	Liabilities
Primary residence Investment portfolio (stocks, bonds, etc.) Cars, boats, and other physical assets	Mortgages Credit card balances Loans

In short, assets are anything that can be sold for money, while liabilities are any debts or financial obligations that one may have.

The Top 20 Countries

Out of the 521,653 UHNW individuals in the world, 414,308 were located in the countries below. This means that almost 80% of the world’s UHNW individuals live in just 20 countries.

Rank	Country	Number of Ultra-Wealthy	Growth Since 2015
#1	U.S.	180,060	16%
#2	China (Mainland)	70,426	137%
#3	Germany	28,396	43%
#4	UK	16,370	-8%
#5	France	15,503	22%
#6	Japan	14,755	36%
#7	Italy	10,441	-4%
#8	Canada	10,025	27%
#9	Russia	8,015	19%
#10	Switzerland	7,553	12%
#11	South Korea	7,354	16%
#12	Saudi Arabia	7,020	227%
#13	India	6,884	27%
#14	Spain	5,938	9%
#15	Sweden	5,243	27%
#16	Brazil	5,140	-9%
#17	Hong Kong SAR	5,042	48%
#18	Singapore	3,732	37%
#19	Mexico	3,287	-4%
#20	Australia	3,124	57%

With just over 180,000 UHNW individuals within its borders, the U.S. continues to be the long-standing leader in this metric.

Its five-year growth rate of 16%, however, falls far behind the Chinese Mainland’s impressive 137%.

Whether China can overtake the U.S. as the leader in UHNW population remains to be seen, but momentum appears to be in the Asian nation’s favor.

And considering our relative population size, Australia is punching well above its weight with our share of UHNW individuals.

About Robert Chandra

Robert Chandra is a Property Strategist at Metropole and has an intrinsic understanding of property markets backed by many years of real estate experience. This coupled with several degrees gives him a holistic perspective with which he can diagnose clients’ circumstances and goals and formulate strategies to bridge the gap.