Visualizing the Global Millionaire Population

A look at wealth by region, fortune size, and city

The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.

When we think of the term “millionaire”, it’s only natural for our thoughts to be skewed towards the famous business magnates that have amassed giant fortunes, like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or Warren Buffett.

However, the reality is that those types of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) with fortunes above $30 million are a fairly rare commodity – and when it’s all said and done, they make up a very tiny percentage of the millionaire population as a whole.

Fortune Size Number (Globally) % of Millionaire Population $30+ mm 160,000 1.0% $5mm - $30mm 1,500,000 9.1% $1mm - $5mm 14,860,000 90.0%

The vast majority of millionaires (90.0%) globally have fortunes between $1 million and $5 million, and you’re probably not going to find many of them with a sprawling mansion or a new Rolls Royce in the garage.

In fact, most millionaires drive a Ford.

Local Millionaires

So where will you find all of the world’s millionaires?

They are most likely to be found in big cities – places where they can use and display their wealth. These are also the places where big opportunities tend to be found, so it’s no surprise to see millionaires cluster in world-class cities like New York, Hong Kong, London, Tokyo, or Singapore.

Regions below are sorted by the total millionaires in each city. Data comes from the Knight Frank 2017 report.

Top Cities in Asia

Rank (Asia) City Country # of Millionaires #1 Tokyo Japan 279,800 #2 Hong Kong Hong Kong 227,900 #3 Singapore Singapore 217,300 #4 Beijing China 122,100 #5 Osaka Japan 117,700 #6 Shanghai China 117,600 #7 Seoul South Korea 108,100 #8 Taipei Taiwan 76,700 #9 Mumbai India 46,100 #10 Shenzhen China 31,400

Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore are the undisputed millionaire population capitals in Asia, but mainland China is coming up quick from behind.

In just the last 10 years, China has upped its millionaire count by 281% to 719,400 in total – and Beijing (with 122,100 millionaires) now cracks the top five list in Asia.

Top Cities in Oceania

Rank (Oceania) City City # of Millionaires #1 Sydney Australia 106,800 #2 Melbourne Australia 74,800 #3 Auckland New Zealand 25,600

Australia’s millionaire count has soared 85% over the last 10 years, thanks in part to red-hot property prices.

Top Cities in Europe

Rank (Europe) City Country # of Millionaires #1 London UK 357,200 #2 Frankfurt Germany 128,300 #3 Paris France 110,900 #4 Zurich Switzerland 109,200 #5 Geneva Switzerland 104,300 #6 Munich Germany 78,900 #7 Moscow Russia 68,200 #8 Rome Italy 64,300 #9 Amsterdam Netherlands 42,600 #10 Brussels Belgium 34,700

London is the millionaire capital for the world, with 357,200 of them.

Despite its relatively small size in comparison to the European heavyweights, Switzerland also has two cities in the top five: Geneva and Zurich.

Top Cities in the Middle East

Rank (Middle East) City Country # of Millionaires #1 Dubai UAE 50,400 #2 Tel Aviv Israel 35,200 #3 Istanbul Turkey 27,300 #4 Doha Qatar 25,800 #5 Abu Dhabi UAE 17,100 #6 Riyadh Saudi Arabia 16,200 #7 Tehran Iran 14,000 #8 Jerusalem Israel 13,100

Not surprisingly, Dubai is the biggest destination for the ultra-rich to flock to in the Middle East.

Top Cities in Latin America

Rank (Latin America) City Country # of Millionaires #1 Mexico City Mexico 86,700 #2 São Paulo Brazil 64,500 #3 Rio de Janeiro Brazil 35,300 #4 Buenos Aires Argentina 15,400 #5 Bogota Colombia 14,900 #6 Santiago Chile 10,800

Mexico City, and then the two big ones in Brazil (São Paulo and Rio), are where millionaires congregate in Latin America.

Top Cities in North America

Rank (North America) City Country # of Millionaires #1 New York City USA 339,200 #2 Bay Area USA 180,300 #3 Los Angeles USA 173,300 #4 Toronto Canada 109,300 #5 Miami USA 31,600 #6 Washington D.C. USA 31,200 #7 Vancouver Canada 31,100

The U.S. has 4.3 million millionaires, and they are widely dispersed through the country.

The Knight Frank 2017 report lists five cities: NYC, Washington, D.C., San Francisco (incl. Bay Area), Los Angeles, and Miami – all of which, according to their calculations, have more than 30k millionaires.

Canada’s Toronto also has broken the six-digit barrier with over 100,000 millionaires. That puts the Big Smoke in pretty unique company, as only 17 cities globally can make such a claim.