China will create millionaires over three times faster than the US in five years through 2025, Credit Suisse wealth report says

Rise of China’s wealth between 2000 and 2020 is almost equal to the 80 years of growth of wealth in the US from 1925 until 2005, says economist and report author Anthony Shorrocks

Hong Kong ranks among top five in terms of both wealth per adult and density of millionaires, ahead of mainland China and Singapore

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China had 9.4 per cent of the world’s millionaires in 2020 at 5.3 million, behind only the US. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:21pm, 22 Jun 2021Updated: 7:48am, 23 Jun 2021

China will create millionaires at a quicker pace than the United States in the five years through 2025, as a rapid recovery from the world’s worst public-health crisis in a century helps corporate chieftains generate and accumulate wealth faster, according to the 12th Global Wealth Report by Credit Suisse.

The number of US dollar millionaires in China will increase by 92.7 per cent to 10.17 million by 2025, compared with a 27.8 per cent rise in the US to 28.06 million US dollar millionaires over the same period, according to a projection by the Swiss lender.

“The rise of China’s wealth between 2000 and 2020 is almost equal to the 80 years of growth of wealth in the US from 1925 until 2005,” Anthony Shorrocks, an economist and the report’s author, said in a video conference on Tuesday. “We are expecting very solid growth in wealth in the years ahead, in both China and India.”

The Credit Suisse report is an annual study compiled from data on the wealth holdings of 5.2 billion adults in about 200 countries, and is the most comprehensive wealth report globally. And it says that China will retain the world’s second-largest population of wealthy people, ahead of Japan, France and Canada, and behind just America.

Of the total global wealth gain of US$28.7 trillion last year, China contributed US$4.2 trillion, the report said. The world’s second-largest economy had 9.4 per cent of the world’s millionaires in 2020 at 5.3 million, behind only the US, which had 39 per cent of millionaires worldwide, or 22 million millionaires. Japan ranked third with 6.6 per cent.

Hong Kong ranked among the top five in terms of both wealth per adult and density of millionaires. It ranked third after Switzerland and the US in terms of average wealth – at US$503,340 – per adult last year.