Australia’s millionaire population soars 34%

Australia has one of the fastest-growing populations of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in the world, according an annual report on the world’s wealthy.

The Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini says the number of HNWIs in Australia (defined as people having more than $US1 million in investable assets, excluding the family home and collectables) increased 34.4% during 2009 to 173,600.

Their combined wealth grew 36.8% to $US519.4 billion and the average wealth per HNWI was $US2.99 million.

While Australia makes up only a small percentage of global markets, our millionaires appear to be punching well above their weight.

“Australia continues to be an important contributor to wealth in the region and globally, ranking as the 10th largest HNWI population out of 71 countries,” said Chris Selby, Managing Director of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management Australia.

The report shows just over 55% of the HWNIs in Australia have fortunes of between $US1-5 million.

After the GFC turned 2008 into a horror year for the world’s wealthy entrepreneurs, most bounced back strong in 2009, with the global population of HNWIs increasing 17.1% to 10 million, while their total wealth rose almost 19% to $US39 trillion.

HNWIs from Asia led the rebound. Asia Pacific’s HNWI population rebounded to 3 million in 2009 after falling to 2.4 million in 2008, while total wealth of the region jumped 30.9% to $US9.7 trillion

For the first time, Asia Pacific’s population of HNWIs is as big as that in Europe, while the region’s total wealth is actually higher than that in Europe.

Rising share prices around the world have driven the rebound in the fortunes of the world’s wealthy – the report says global market capitalisation increased 47% in 2009 to $US47.9 trillion.