Study shows global wealth is growing in 2021, but increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few

World wealth rose by 9.8 percent in 2021, but it is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, as almost half of the money is in the hands of the 01% of people, Credit Suisse said on Tuesday.

According to a study by the institution, global wealth at the end of last year was 465 billion euros, 45.6% of which was owned by 01% of people, which is 1.7% more than in 2020.

In addition, wealth growth has been concentrated in just two countries: the US accounts for half of it, and China for a quarter of the pie.

According to an analysis by Credit Suisse Bank cited by the Spanish news agency Efe, the rest of the world shared a quarter of the remaining amount.

However, the 9.8% increase in wealth in one year is already adjusted for current exchange rates, but without this factor, growth would have reached 12.7%, which is the fastest annual growth rate ever recorded. This comes in a year when the world has just begun to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

2021 “has been a good year for finance,” commented analysis co-author Anthony Shorrocks in a presentation of Credit Suisse’s annual wealth report, citing rising stocks and lower interest rates set by banks. The main reasons for the scenario.

“It is too early to determine the impact that the war in Ukraine, inflation and problems in global supply chains will have, which could lead to a trend reversal,” Nannett Heckler-Fyde, head of research at the bank, said. grass. .

But even if household wealth growth stalls in the short term, analysts view the five-year projections as positive and expect global wealth per adult to increase by an average of 28% by 2026, above the €100,000 a year threshold. two years.

The average wealth of adults increased last year by 8.4% to 87,600 euros.

The United States and China were the biggest contributors to global wealth growth last year, first with more than 20 billion euros and China with more than 11.3 billion euros.

The two countries were followed by Canada (another €1.9 billion), as well as India and Australia.

The United States is also at the top of the list of adults considered super-rich (with a net worth of over 50 million euros), with China reappearing in second place.

In general, the number of the super-rich increased by 21%, while the number of “ordinary” millionaires (with a fortune of more than a million euros) increased by 9%, including 62.5 million people.

In 2021, there are 30,000 new super-rich in the US, 5,200 more in China, 1,750 more in Germany, 1,610 more in Canada, and 1,350 more in Australia, but there has been little exit from this group, only the UK has been mentioned. (1130 people less), Turkey (minus 330) and Hong Kong (minus 130).

At the bottom of the pyramid are those who had a “wealth” of less than 10 thousand euros in 2021 and make up more than half (53%) of the world’s population.

Europe is accumulating the largest share of wealth in regional terms after the US and ahead of China, although it only increased by 1.7 billion in 2021, a fraction of the 32.6 billion euros added by the two biggest economic powers combined.