Lots of millionaires in Singapore

A wealth report released by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini puts Singapore as home to the world’s fastest-growing population of millionaires.

Here’s a quick summary of what I found out from the report:

• Singapore saw the highest growth (21.2%) in High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs), followed by India (20.5%), Indonesia (16.0%), Russia (15.5%), UAE (15.4%), South Korea (14.1%), South Africa (13.3%), Israel (12.9%), Czech Republic (12.6%) and Hong Kong (12.2%). HNWIs are people with US$1 million in financial assets.
• Despite Asian countries featuring quite strongly in the above list, Asia-Pacific is ranked 4th by continental regions, behind Africa, Middle East and Latin America.
• The growth rate globally is 8.3%.
• But in absolute numbers, Russia has 119,000 HNWIs – the highest. This is followed by India (100,000), South Korea (99,000), Hong Kong (87,000), UAE (68,000), and then Singapore (67,000).
• “HNWIs in Asia-Pacific nearly doubled their allocations to real estate, from 16% in 2005 to 29% in 2006. Consistent with the investor behavior often seen in emerging economies, HNWIs in Asia-Pacific tended to invest in tangible assets.”