A WORLDWIDE survey on wealth accrual revealed a surge in the number of millionaires to 56.1 million at the end of 2020, up by 5.2 million from a year earlier.
The Credit Suisse Research Institute’s recently published Global Wealth Report-2021 showed a continued wealth growth globally.
Total global wealth grew by 7.4 per cent and wealth per adult rose by 6 per cent to reach another record high of $79,952 (£57,920) at the end of 2020.
More than one per cent of adult population in the world are now dollar millionaires, but this proportion varies across countries.
“Starting at the lower end, millionaires are uncommon in India, Indonesia or even Russia: around one in a thousand adults. The frequency is not much greater in China. Despite the large expansion in the number of millionaires, the huge population size means that millionaires remain relatively rare: about one for every 200 adults,” the report said.
China’s millionaires constitute just half percent of its huge population while the Russian and Indian millionaires are in minority, it added.
“Millionaires account for 3 per cent of adults in Italy and Spain. Prospects increase if you travel north to France, Austria or Germany (about 4 per cent), improving still further if you continue on to Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark or Sweden (around 6 per cent),” it said.
“But millionaire density is higher still in the United States or Hong Kong SAR (above 8 per cent), Australia (9 per cent), and highest of all in Switzerland (15 per cent),” it added.
With this new data amidst the protracted pandemic, Bangladesh now has 21,399 millionaires, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
Each of these millionaires in Bangladesh owns wealth in the range of $1-5m (£725,110 – £3.6m).
There was no millionaire in Bangladesh in 2010, while their numbers were 13,339 at the end of 2018, the newspaper said citing previous editions of the report.
The surge in Bangladesh’s millionaire population resembles a worldwide rising trend in the numbers of people becoming millionaires in recent years.
The 12th edition of the Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report noted that for the first time in history, over one per cent of the world’s adult population are millionaires now.
It also shows how 82 per cent of global wealth is at the hands of just richer 10 per cent segment of population.
Meanwhile, India and Pakistan showed a contrasting trend in the last two years as far as millionaires are concerned.
Pakistan saw a surge in its millionaire population from 8,494 in 2018 to 15,534 now, while India witnessed a decline from 759,000 to 697,655 around the same period.
A detailed study on all 12 editions of the Credit Suisse’s annual reports indicate that Bangladesh’s economy has grown substantially over the last decade with its net wealth rising from $240 billion (£173bn) in 2010 to $831bn (£602bn) now.
At present, Bangladesh has an 106,069,000-adult population with an average wealth of $7,837 (£5,680) per head, up from $2,784 (£2,017) in 2010.
