|
Hong Kong: Japan has far more millionaires than any other Asia-Pacific country in 2006, but their number grew by the smallest percentage of any market in the region, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
China and Australia ranked second and third in the number of overall high net-worth individuals -- people with more than $1 million in financial assets excluding their homes -- but their growth also lagged the double-digit gains seen in other markets, the report said.
The number of these wealthy individuals in Japan grew 5.1 per cent to 1.477 million in 2006, according to the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report produced by Merrill Lynch and consultants Capgemini.
Japan remained well ahead of mainland China, where despite its massive population and double digit economic growth, the population of wealthy individuals was just 345,000, a 7.8 per cent increase from 2005.
Australia, where the number of wealthy rose 10.3 percent in 2006 to 161,000, ranked third.
Those growth rates lagged gains seen in South Korea, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia, where populations of the wealthy are smaller.
Tiny Singapore saw the fastest percentage increase globally in the number of high-net-worth individuals, at 21.2 percent to 66,660.
The report also said more than 150,000 Indian millionaires reside outside of their country's borders.
In 2006, the greatest concentration of wealthy non-resident Indians was in Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.
The report showed Asia's wealthy favoured tangible asset classes like real estate and cash more than their global counterparts.
|
