More than $12 trillion has been siphoned out of Russia, China and other emerging economies into the shadowy world of offshore finance, new research reveals.

Key points: New analysis reveals capital flight has increased since 2010

New analysis reveals capital flight has increased since 2010 Professor James Henry says it's up to rich countries to tackle the problem

Professor James Henry says it's up to rich countries to tackle the problem Panama Papers to be made publicly available

World leaders will gather in the United Kingdom next week to discuss the trillions of dollars being squirreled away in foreign tax havens, and they will learn that the problem is only getting worse.

The analysis was carried out over 18 months by Columbia University Professor James S Henry for the Tax Justice Network.

It comes in the wake of the release of the Panama Papers, which showed widespread global tax avoidance as wealthy individuals hid their assets offshore.

Professor Henry said the recent release of the Panama Papers highlighted how the rich, corrupt and powerful exploit the system, particularly in emerging economies.

"We're seeing an enormous amount of capital flight out of places like China in the last 18 months, more than a trillion moving out," Professor Henry said.

The numbers for Russia follow a similar trajectory.

"Russia has been a big contributor. Even since the 2014 period that these numbers refer to, there's been a tremendous increase so that Russia now sits on more than $1.3 trillion," he said.

Since 2010, the amount of global wealth stored offshore has increased from about $9 trillion to $12.1 trillion by the end of 2014.

Rich countries have 'an opportunity to take charge'

Professor Henry said the top 30 countries account for approximately 94 per cent of the total, "with authoritarian regimes or kleptocracies accounting for at least 80 per cent of it".

But he said it is up to developed economies like Australia to combat the problem.

"I think it's up to the enablers, you know the kleptocrat are seeking places with the rule of law and independent courts to protect their assets," he said.

"It's really up to OECD countries like Australia, the United States, Canada, the UK, the EU and of course Switzerland is a big recipient of a lot of this money, so it's really the rich countries of the world that have an opportunity to take charge of this."

'If not now, when?'

World leaders will meet for the UK Anti-Corruption Summit next week.

Professor Henry said there were concrete steps that can be taken to address the problem, and he hoped British Prime Minister David Cameron would take the lead.

"We have a laundry list of things that he can do, starting with the beneficial ownership registration of companies and trusts, getting rid of the financial secrecy that pertains to them, and having stiffer penalties for all the so called enablers who are facilitating this.

"The big banks, law firms, accounting firms around the planet because this is not an industry where you grow your own," he said.

He is hopeful that there is enough political will to tackle the problem.

"Well if not now, when? There's progress that's been made and there's quite a lot left to be done but I'm an optimist here, we can just keep pressing."

Panama Papers to be made available to outside analysts

The Panama Papers leak contained more than 11.5 million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which revealed widespread tax avoidance.

More information was expected to be publicly released in the coming days, which Professor Henry said is a good opportunity for further analysis.

"So far it's been used by the ICIJ consortium of, you know, about 370 journalist have had access just to the data for a year ago or so; now it's going to be opened up," he said.

"And I think that will be very valuable because there's a lot of new kind of analysis to be done.

"As good as the journalists are, you know, they're just not as familiar with all of the intricacies is the 214,000 companies that were involved here."

Professor Henry has called for an international commission to investigate global tax avoidance and capital flight.

"If one Panamanian law firm with just 500 employers, $42 million of revenue can produce this kind of information, you know, think of what revelations about many of the other players in the world including some of the top banks would show."