The world is getting richer. According to Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report, global assets rose to an incredible $317 trillion between mid-2017 and mid-2018. Of these, women already hold 40 percent.

Especially in Asia, mostly in China, the share of women in total assets has increased sharply. However, it is still below the level in Europe and North America (40 to 45 percent).

The prosperity gap between men and women dropped

“There is still a wealth gap between men and women worldwide,” says Nannette Hechler-Fayd’herbe, Head of Investment Strategy at Credit Suisse. “However, the gap has narrowed considerably over time.”

More and more women are pushing into the top ranks of the wealthy. As the authors of the Global Wealth Report have noted, they are increasingly among the millionaires.

Most millionaires are Americans

Most rich people live in the USA. There are now 17.3 million millionaires, according to the Global Wealth Report. It is followed by China with 3.4 million millionaires.

The big wealth winners in the past twelve months were the Americans — thanks to the gains in equities and funds. Their fortunes increased by a whopping $ 6.3 trillion to $ 98 trillion. The Chinese own just half as much. They have a good $ 52 trillion on the high ridge.

Swiss people have the most per capita

With average assets per adult, however, the Swiss are in the lead. They have an average of over $530,000. In second place of the ranking come the Australians with a fortune of approximately $411,000 per capita.

Allianz report sees a similar trend

Similar results came recently from the Allianz Global Wealth Report. According to the study, global gross financial assets increased by nearly eight percent last year to more than 168 trillion euros. Unlike Credit Suisse, Allianz only considers cash, bank deposits, securities, insurance, and pension funds, but not real estate.

Wealth outlook: more to come

Over the next five years, global wealth is projected to rise by nearly 26%. By 2023, it is expected to reach $399 trillion. Although they account for just 21% of the current wealth.

The richness is usually driven by growth in the middle segment. But it can be expected that the number of millionaires will grow markedly over the next five years to reach a new all-time high of 55 million.

At the beginning of this century, 80% of adults in this world belonged to this stratum: today the fraction is 64%. Our anticipations show it decreasing further to 61% in 2023.

Author: Marko Vidrih