Ultra high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) are defined as having a net worth of at least US$30 million in constant 2012 dollars (after accounting for shares in public and private companies, residential and passion investments such as art, planes and real estate).
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Definitions and ranking
Ultra High Net Worth Individuals are defined as having a net worth of at least US$30 million (after accounting for shares in public and private companies, residential and passion investments such as art, planes and real estate). At last count, there were 211,275 UHNW individuals in the world, with a total combined net worth of US$29.7 trillion. Billionaires are a special category of UHNW individuals, having net worth in excess of US$1 billion. At last count there were 2,325 billionaires in the world, with a combined net worth of US$7.3 trillion. These individuals represent just over 1% of the world's UHNW population and 24% of the world's UHNW total wealth.
World Ultra Wealth Report
The World Ultra Wealth Report 2013 was co-published by Wealth-X and UBS. Two previous World Ultra Wealth Reports have been published independently by Wealth-X, in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
UHNW distribution by wealth tier
Boston Consulting Group Global Wealth Report
The Global Wealth Report, which Boston Consulting Group (BCG) published in June 2014 in Washington, D.C., shows that liquid wealth of the super-rich, the Ultra-High-Net-Worth Households, has increased by 20% in 2013. BCG uses a household definition of UHNW which places only those with more than $100 million liquid financial wealth into the UHNW-category, more than the usual $30 million, with which the ultra-category had been created in 2007. According to BCG about 15,000 households globally belong in this group of the super-rich. They control 5.5% of global financial wealth. 5000 of them live in the US, followed by China, Britain and Germany. BCG expects the trend toward more concentrated wealth to continue unabated. While financial wealth of the sub-millionaires is expected to increase by 3.7% annually until 2019, the expected growth rate for the super-rich is 9.1%. The share of this group in global financial wealth would thus increase % to 6.5% by 2019.
UHNW characteristics
65% of the world's UHNW population is self-made, as opposed to 19% who have inherited their fortune and 16% who have inherited and grown their wealth. These proportions change dramatically by gender. Only 12% of the world's UHNW population is female, and of these, only 33% are self-made, as opposed to 70% of male UHNW. Twenty-two percent of self-made UHNW individuals have derived their wealth from the finance, banking and investment. Interestingly, almost 15% of individuals with inherited wealth are engaged in non-profit and social organisations.
Asia's growth is expected to continue, and this change in demographics has significant impact on the various organizations that specifically target UHNW individuals, such as luxury companies, financial institutions, charities and universities.
Billionaire Census
The Billionaire Census 2013 was co-published by Wealth-X and UBS.
The average net worth of the world's billionaire is US$3 billion, with a liquidity on average of 18% of net worth. 60% of the world's billionaires are self-made, 20% have inherited their fortune and 20% have both inherited and grown their wealth. 18% of the world's billionaires have derived their wealth from finance, banking and investment; as opposed to 9% from industrial conglomerates and 7% from the real estate industry. The average billionaire is 62 years old, and 87% of the world's billionaires are male. These individuals are highly educated: 68% of them have a bachelor's degree or higher levels of education.
UHNW participation
UHNW individuals are of crucial importance not only to the finance, banking and investment industry, but also to luxury companies who target UHNW individuals, charities, universities and schools amongst others. UHNW individuals are notable players in the field of philanthropy, many of them have their own private foundations and support a variety of causes, from education to poverty relief.
Financial institutions are known for their targeting of UHNW individuals, having specific parts of their bank designed to manage the wealth of their UHNW clients. In addition, research on the UHNW is particularly important with upcoming intergenerational wealth transfers in the UHNW population. For example, luxury companies typically target UHNW as a separate segment of their clientele, and projected growth in UHNW population in Asia are considered to hold promise for the future of the luxury industry. In fact, even despite wide report on the luxury industry's troubled year with China's luxury spenders, luxury industry experts continue to be optimistic for their long-term performance, especially from UHNW individuals. In the real estate sector, UHNW individuals are particularly relevant, with the total UHNW population's real estate holdings accounting for over US$5 trillion, or 3% of the world's real estate holdings. This is a huge proportion considering this population is only 0.003% of the world's population.