Countries with the most millionaires

“Our estimates suggest that the lower half of the global population collectively own less than 1% of global wealth, while the richest 10% of adults own 88% of all wealth and the top 1% account for half of all assets in the world”, the Global Wealth Report says.

“This has reversed the pre-crisis trend, which saw the share of middle-class wealth remaining fairly stable over time”.

Millionaires will increase at least 70 percent in Taiwan, China, Saudi Arabia, Colombia and Poland, the bank’s report said. The household wealth by region too has observed drastic changes this year. This year 92 million in the U.S. are ranked as being in the middle classes.

India’s total household wealth at current Dollars terms fell by 1 per cent from mid-2014 to mid-2015 to USD 3.4 trillion; while at domestic currency terms, it rose by 4.8 per cent, the report said.

Australia has the highest percentage of its population, 66 per cent, classified as middle class, which was defined by Credit Suisse as having more than $US100,000 in wealth, followed by Belgium and Singapore, both on 60 per cent.

Meanwhile at the top, the USA dominates as the country with the most dollar millionaires. However, while the global millionaire club lost 2.4 million members, Credit Suisse forecast that its numbers would rise to 49.3 million over the next five years.

“India now has 2,083 ultra-high-net-worth individuals with more than Dollars 50 million net wealth, 3 per cent higher than 2014”. This put the United Kingdom in third place, behind the U.S. with 61,300 of the world’s wealthiest and China with 9,600.

Mumbai: Growth in wealth creation by the middle class in India is higher than its pace globally, but lags far behind the scorching pace of growth in middle class wealth in China.

The report defines the middle-class in terms of a wealth band instead of an income range.

A new report published by Credit Suisse provides insight into the make-up of the middle classes across the globe, including South Africa.

The report said: “Our results indicate that 664 million adults belong to the global middle class in 2015, equivalent to 14% of the total adult population”.

It cited the effects of a strong dollar in particular but also weaker stock markets – largely a outcome of cooling developing market economies and the collapse in world oil prices.

Credit Suisse expects rising household wealth in the United States to benefit wealth management and consumer-oriented companies, including Charles Schwab Corp SCHW.N , Affiliated Managers Group Inc AMG.N , Visa Inc V.N , Marriott worldwide Inc March O , Apple Inc AAPL. This is an annual growth rate of 6.6%, less than the 7% forecast a year ago.