Millions of millionaires: China will be a top 10 nation for uber-rich by 2020
A million more millionaires by then, forecasts report, as growth in number of super-wealthy outstrips all other economies over past year
The mainland will be one of the top 10 economies for US dollar millionaires in 2020, when it will be home to 2.3 million, compared to 1.3 million now, Credit Suisse forecasts.
The increase will bring it near to Germany's level. However, it will still lag far behind the United States, which is in the top spot. The US has 15.7 million millionaires now and is projected to have 20.6 million in 2020.
Credit Suisse Research Institute's global wealth report yesterday said total household wealth on the mainland increased 7 per cent to US$22.8 trillion from mid-2014 to mid-2015, putting it second to the US.
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The number of super-rich had grown faster on the mainland than anywhere else over the past year. By mid 2015, it had 9,555 ultra-high-net-worth individuals with more than US$50 million each, a 24 per cent rise from the year before.
This is the latest report to reflect the mainland's growing number of super rich. A report by Bain and Company with China Merchants Bank in May said the mainland's high-net-worth individuals - those with individual investable assets in excess of 10 million yuan - exceeded one million last year, twice that in 2010.
The Credit Suisse report said the mainland's middle class had continued its rapid expansion. The report said its 109 million middle class people now held US$7.3 trillion in financial assets and real estate - a jump of about 330 per cent since 2000.
Global household wealth fell 4.7 per cent to US$250 trillion partly due to US dollar appreciation. It would have risen by 5.1 per cent had the exchange rate stayed the same, the report said.
The Chinese mainland, the US and Britain recorded the strongest wealth gains of major economies in the past year.
"Going forward, we expect the global economy to accelerate slightly, with the Chinese economy stabilising as it makes a transition towards consumption and services," said Michael O'Sullivan, at Credit Suisse.
Going forward, we expect the global economy to accelerate slightly
The researchers projected global wealth would continue to grow at 6.6 per cent annually to reach US$345 trillion in 2020.
Mainland households were less affected by stock markets than in other countries.
In Hong Kong, total household wealth grew 8.3 per cent to US$1 trillion over the past year. Some 44 per cent of the city's adults were middle class, together worth US$283 billion, while there were 107,000 US dollar millionaires.
