If you were asked to generate a list of which countries had the most millionaires as a percentage of their population would you have come up with this list.
Proportion of millionaire household by market
1. Singapore 15.5%
2. Switzerland 9.9%
3. Qatar 8.9%
4. Hong Kong 8.7%
5. Kuwait 8.5%
6. UAE 5%
7. United States 4.5%
8. Taiwan 3.5%
9. Israel 3.4%
10. Belgium 3.1%
11. Japan 3%
12. Bahrain 2.6%
13. Ireland 2.3%
14. Netherlands 2.3%
15. UK 2.2%
This data comes courtesy of the Boston Consulting Group’s Global Wealth Report 2011, where wealth is defined as total assets under management including cash, money market and equities either held directly or through managed funds. It excludes the likes of residential property.
The reason for the success of Singapore is given as –
Singapore is more plugged into wealth creation than any other nation,” says Mykolas Rambus, CEO of intelligence provider Wealth-X . He adds that Singaporeans are not just benefiting from China’s phenomenal growth, but also that of India and Southeast Asia. Boston Consulting Group’s study found wealth in Asia ex-Japan grew the fastest of any region in 2010, increasing more than 17%.
A quick look at the list shows Australia is nowhere to be seen because of the excessively low saving rates we see domestically. And because we are simply not switched on enough to take advantage of the emerging economic giants. To most Australian businesses it seems that digging something out of the ground and selling it to someone only to import back at 100 times its original value as a product makes good sense.
Anyone remember Pig Iron Bob?
