Is it another sign pointing a harder time? Global personal wealth just grew 1.6% in 2018, the weakest in five years, according to Boston Consulting Group.
It’s a huge plunge compared to the 7.5% gain in 2017 and 6.2% CAGR growth from 2013 to 2017.
If the rebound in US dollar is factored in, there was actually a drop of 1.6% last year, Anna Zakrzewski, global leader of BCG’s seal management practice pointed out.
It was the first drop since 2008 when all the factors were taken into account, she added.
Despite this, the amount of global personal financial wealth still hit US$206 trillion, according to BCG.
In Asia, the amount of wealth grew 7.1% last year, which is much greater than that in Western Europe (0.6%) and North America (0.4%). Africa registered the highest growth of 8.9%.
In addition, the number of millionaires grew 2.1% to 22.1 million worldwide, BCG said, predicting that the number will grow to 27.6 million. These individuals now hold a combined 50% of personal financial assets globally, the firm added.
The greatest concentration of millionaires is in North America, continuing a long-standing pattern, BCG observed.
From 2018 to 2023, however, the region likely to experience the fastest growth in its millionaire population is Asia (excluding Japan) at 10.1%, followed by Africa at 9.8% and Latin America at 9.1%, the firm said.
BCG also estimates that Asia’s total personal wealth would hit US$58 trillion by in 2023, which would surpass Western Europe’s projected $53 trillion.
