Kuwait recorded a decline of 0.8% in the number of the wealthy, whose wealth per capita exceeds USD one million during 2020, to reach 205,000 millionaires, compared to 207,000 in 2019, Al Qabas reported.
According to the Global Wealth Report 2021, issued by the consulting company Capgemini, Kuwait ranked 18th globally, and second in the Gulf after Saudi Arabia on the list of countries with the most wealthy people.
Among the top 25 markets in terms of the number of very high net worth individuals(HNWIs), only Kuwait, Brazil and the United Kingdom recorded a decline in the number of HNWIs, while the other markets experienced a growth in their number. For example, the number of millionaires in Saudi Arabia grew by 3.3% from 203 thousand millionaires in 2019 to 210 millionaires in 2020.
The report revealed that stocks constituted the bulk of the investment of wealthy people in the Middle East at 22.6%, while the second most attractive asset class was cash and cash equivalents (21.3%), then real estate (19.9%), followed by fixed income (19.3%), then alternative investments. (16.9%).
The number of wealthy people in the Middle East reached 0.8 million, while their wealth amounted to 3.2 trillion US dollars. The size of HNWIs in the Middle East increased by 6.8% in 2020, while the wealth of HNWIs increased by 10.7% to reach $3.2 trillion.
On the other hand, the number of millionaires around the world exceeded the 20 million mark during the year 2020. The company explained that the number of people with a net worth of USD 1 million or more increased by 6.3%, to 20.8 million people, during the year when the Corona virus was sweeping the world.
The total wealth owned by this group of people grew by 7.6%, with a total value of USD 80 trillion. Much of the gain came from increased stock market valuations.
The countries with the largest number of rich people are, in order, the United States, Japan, Germany and China. These four countries combined are home to 63% of the world’s millionaires.
The fastest growth in 2020 was among the rich, those with a net worth of at least USD 30 million, at a rate of 9%.