Number of global millionaires hit record 23.4 million

The figure rose 2.6% from 2023. These millionaires owned a combined US$90.47 trillion in wealth, up 4.2%, according to a report by information technology services and consulting group Capgemini.

Growth was largely fueled by gains in American stock portfolios.

The United States saw an addition of 562,000 millionaires, marking a 7.6% rise, driven by enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and interest rate reductions that spurred significant growth in the American stock market.

The most substantial gains were among ultra-high-net-worth individuals – those with at least US$30 million in investable assets – whose wealth surged by nearly 12% in the U.S.

India and Japan were standouts in the Asia-Pacific region, with both countries registering 5.6% growth, adding 20,000 and 210,000 millionaires, respectively.

In contrast, growth in China was negative, with the high net-worth population declining by 1%.

Kris Bitterly, head of Citi Global Wealth at Work, emphasized that greater exposure to alternative investments could be crucial for future growth, particularly for high-net-worth individuals seeking to navigate underperforming local markets.

"Many investors, presently, when you look at their asset allocations, they’re significantly underweight on alternatives," Bitterly said, as reported by Bloomberg.

Alternatives offer "unique opportunities that are not available in public markets that you want to express in your portfolio," she added.

Capgemini also said that wealth management firms are actively preparing for a new era of wealth transfer in which US$83.5 trillion will change hands over the next two decades.

"The great wealth transfer will be a defining moment for the industry. Despite global wealth on the rise, 81% of inheritors plan to switch firms within one to two years of inheritance," said Kartik Ramakrishnan, CEO of Capgemini’s Financial Services Strategic Business Unit.

"The next-generation of high-net-worth individuals arrive with vastly different expectations to their parents," he said, adding that potentially losing these unsatisfied clients is going to create significant risk for the global wealth management sector.

Capgemini’s survey, conducted in January 2025, gathered insights from dozens of wealth managers and over 6,000 high-net-worth individuals across 71 countries.