Less than one percent of all households worldwide were classified as millionaires, but they owned about 38% of the world’s wealth, up from about 36% percent in 2008, according to the Boston Consulting Group. BCG also found that:
Households with more than $5 million in wealth represented 0.1 percent of households but owned about 21%, or $23 trillion, of the world’s wealth, up from 19% in 2008.
The number of millionaire households rose by about 14% in 2009, to 11.2 million—about where it stood at the end of 2007.
The United States had by far the most millionaire households (4.7 million) followed by Japan, China, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
Singapore saw the highest growth in millionaire households, up 35%, followed by 33% for Malaysia, 32% for Slovakia, and 31% for China.
Smaller markets had the highest concentrations of millionaire households. In Singapore and Hong Kong, millionaire households accounted for 11.4% and 8.8%, respectively, of all households.
Switzerland had the highest concentration of millionaire households in Europe and the third-highest overall at 8.4%.
Three of the six densest millionaire populations were in the Middle East—in Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
Despite its large population, the U.S. had the seventh-highest density of millionaire households at 4.1%.
