While the United States is still home to the greatest number of ultra-wealthy, Asia is rapidly advancing. A new study lays out how China will steal a march on the U.S. in the next four years.
The world's largest pool of ultra-high rollers, generally seen as those with more than $50 million to bank, is still in the U.S., according to an annual study by the Boston Consulting Group.
The U.S. is home to an estimated 199,000 of the ultra-wealthy, while a mere 38,000 call China home, according to BCG. The data shows that North America still dominates wealth tables, but it also disregards how the ultra-rich are shifting their assets into various countries in order to better safeguard them.
For example, wealthy Chinese have long sent their children to the U.S., Canada, or Britain for schooling, which has helped skew housing prices in cities including Vancouver. Capital controls from China as well as higher property taxes for foreigners in some places have underscored dual efforts to combat the flight of funds.
Eclipsing U.S.
With $8 trillion in ultra-high net worth wealth, the U.S. still holds a comfortable lead over China's $3.7 trillion, according to the study. However, China is posting consistently higher growth rates overall, and is poised to eclipse the U.S. in creating so-called new wealth in the next four years.
The Asian powerhouse economy will close the gap to take the lead, BCG predicts: a 16 percent annual growth rate in new wealth by China far outstrips more meager U.S. growth in recent years. China will edge past the U.S. by 2022, the study's authors predict (see graphic above).
The surge comes as Hong Kong advances on Switzerland as a wealth hub: the alpine nation is still number-one with an estimated $2.2 trillion in funds, but it is hardly growing. By contrast, Hong Kong is growing at an estimated 11 percent annually. Singapore, currently in third place with $900 billion, is growing at 10 percent, compared to Switzerland's sedate 3 percent growth.
