The 2023 Global Wealth Report by financial services group UBS, shows that Switzerland is the richest country in the world in terms of average wealth per resident, at $709,612, ahead of Luxembourg and Hong Kong.
Luxembourg, with an average wealth of $372,258 per citizen, outstrips Australia and Belgium in median wealth.
The report accounts for financial assets, pension savings, and real estate, minus debts.
The Americas host nearly 43% of the world's adults with wealth exceeding USD one million, followed by EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) with nearly a third, and APAC (Asia-Pacific) with just over a quarter.
When considering the total wealth owned by adults, the differences between these regions are less pronounced: the Americas and APAC each hold over a third, while EMEA accounts for slightly more than a quarter.
The percentage of wealth in the Americas has decreased marginally between 2022 and 2023, while it has increased by 1% in both EMEA and APAC.
EMEA leads in wealth per adult, averaging just over $166,000, followed by APAC at slightly over $156,000, and the Americas at $146,000. However, in terms of growth rate in wealth per adult, EMEA lags behind with under 2.3%, compared to nearly 5.8% in the Americas and almost 6.6% in APAC.
Since 2008, average wealth has increased by roughly 122% in APAC, 110% in the Americas, and approximately 41% in EMEA. APAC ranks second in wealth per adult, while the Americas come last.
The rapid growth in wealth in the Asia-Pacific region is expected, as emerging economies catch up and converge with mature markets. These figures confirm that this convergence has been ongoing since 2008.
Generally, in markets where median and average wealth growth is similar, such as the United States and the UK, all sections of society have grown their wealth relatively evenly, without significant changes in wealth distribution.
In contrast, in markets where average wealth growth far exceeds median growth, like Singapore, the wealth increase has predominantly benefited the upper income brackets.
Conversely, in markets where median growth surpasses average growth, such as Switzerland and Germany, adults in lower wealth brackets have experienced faster wealth growth compared to their wealthier counterparts.
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