SINGAPORE: While the number of very rich people around the globe dropped by 3.8 per cent in 2022, Singapore bucked that trend with a 6.9 per cent increase in the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) in the country.
In 2021, the country had 4,206 UHNWIs. Last year, their number grew to 4,498. And by 2027, this number is expected to grow by over 17 per cent to 5,300, says a report by London-based Knight Frank, an international property company.
An UHNWIs is defined as a person whose investable assets are greater than US$30 million (S$40.37 million).
Nicholas Keong, head, private office, Knight Frank Singapore, says that “Singapore’s strategic geographical location as the gateway to cities in the Asia-Pacific, as well as the availability of modern infrastructure, a stable pro-business environment and newly-minted rich from pandemic- related growth industries and entrepreneurship, has led to a concentration of wealth and a growing ultra-rich population seeking stability in an increasingly uncertain world.”
Elsewhere in the world, the decrease in the total number of UHNWIs was “largely due to weak performing equities and bond markets,” said the head of research of Knight Frank Singapore, Mr Leonard Tay.
Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore are among the fastest-growing UHNWI markets with their wealthy population increasing by 7 to 9 per cent.
Europe, on the other hand, saw its UHNWI population decrease by 8.5 per cent, with the exceptions being Ireland and Monaco,
Mr Tay added, “With the global UHNW population having grown 44% in the five years to 2022, growth can be expected to slow to 28.5% over the next five years, as the region and the world adapts to a new economic environment post-pandemic.”
Singapore is in eighth place among the top 10 countries whose UHNWI populations grew in 2022.
Taking pole position is UAE, whose UHNWI population grew last year by 18.1 per cent, followed by Tanzania (13.9 per cent) and Brazil (11.2 per cent).
The top three countries with the fastest high-net-worth individual (HNWI) population growth in 2022, on the other hand, are Malaysia, Brazil, and Indonesia, in that order.
/TISG
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