What You Need to Know
- Ultra-rich individuals with $30M or more in net worth represent just 1.2% of the world’s HNW population, but command 34% of global net worth.
- Little difference was found in UHNW effects by gender, unlike in the general population.
- Excluding billionaires, researchers found that only two of the five primary industry groups recorded an increased in related wealth.
The global pandemic and the attendant economic and social turmoil had differing effects on ultra-high-net-worth individuals’ private wealth in 2020, according to Wealth-X’s World Ultra Wealth Report 2021.
Ultra-rich individuals with $30 million or more in net worth represent just 1.2% of the world’s high-net-worth population (individuals with $1 million of net worth), but command 34% of global net worth.
Last year, their numbers grew 1.7% to 295,450 individuals, and their combined net worth increased 2% to $35.5 trillion.
The report listed 10 countries that are home to three-quarters of the global ultra-high-net-worth population.
Pandemic Effects
Wealth-X researchers looked at how ultra-wealthy individuals’ net worth fared last year based on their gender, primary industry and age.
They found little difference in ultra-high-net-worth effects by gender in 2020 — in contrast to the general population, in which women disproportionately bore pandemic-related disruptions in employment and income.
The saving grace? Asset allocations of the ultra-wealthy, regardless of gender. Private and public holdings account for 56.2% of their assets, well above the proportion for people with lower levels of wealth, according to the report.
Wealth-X said this reflects rich individuals’ tendency to either own or operate a business (or part of one) and to invest widely in public companies as part of wealth planning and protection strategies.