UBS Report: The average wealth of Hong Kong adults was around HK$4.7 million last year, ranking third in the world

The Zhitong Finance App learned that UBS's latest “2025 Global Wealth Report” indicates that global personal wealth grew further last year, with an increase of 4.6% in US dollars, up 0.4 percentage points from 4.2% in 2023. The increase was mainly driven by China, Europe and North America. The per capita wealth of adults was highest in Switzerland, followed by the US, and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ranked third, reaching 601,195 yuan (USD, same below) (about HK$4.7 million).

Global wealth increased 4.6% last year

The report also predicts that the average wealth of global adults will continue to grow in the next 5 years, mainly driven by North America and Greater China.

UBS's Global Wealth Report mainly focuses on analyzing data from 56 markets, and estimates that the relevant markets account for about 92% of global wealth.

On a weighted average of population size, personal wealth in China and Europe increased by 12.01% year-on-year in 2024, followed by North America, with an increase of 11.98%. The strong wealth growth in North America last year was mainly driven by the stable trend of the US dollar and active financial markets. During the period, the Middle East and Africa grew by 4.23%, and Greater China increased by 3.42%, higher than the 2.67% increase in Southeast Asia. The wealth of Western Europe, Oceania and Latin America declined, respectively.

The number of million-dollar million-dollar millionaires is 680,000

The report also pointed out that the number of millionaires added last year (in US dollars) exceeded 680,000, an increase of 1.2% year-on-year. It is expected that the number of millionaires in most markets will continue to grow in the future. By 2029, the number of new millionaires added worldwide is expected to reach 5.34 million.

Last year, the US had the highest number of millionaires, with over 23.83 million, followed by China, with 6.327 million. Taiwan Province of China had close to 760,000 people, while the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region accounted for 647,000. There was about 1 millionaire for every 10 adults, while the number of millionaires in Singapore was 331,000.

In terms of wealth per capita, after adjustment for inflation, the average wealth and median of the adult population in local currency increased by 1.5% and 2.11% respectively last year. Average wealth growth often reflects trends in the higher wealth classes, while median wealth growth generally reflects changes in the middle wealth class.

Hong Kong ranked third with a per capita wealth of 601,195 yuan last year, after Switzerland's 687,166 yuan and the US's 620,654 yuan. In terms of median wealth, the median wealth per adult in Hong Kong was $22,2015, ranking fourth, after Luxembourg, Australia and Belgium. However, financial assets account for more than two-thirds of Hong Kong's total personal wealth, similar to the situation in the US, Japan, Switzerland, and Singapore.