A new Credit Suisse Group AG (ADR) (NYSE:CS) report on wealth around the world has found that wealth in North America grew by 11.9 percent from mid-2012 to mid-2013. The report showed that wealth grew by 4.9 percent around the world to 241 trillion. The growth in world wealth was once again uneven. North America and Europe led the pack.
Rise in United States wealth
The report showed that wealth in the Asia Pacific declined by 3.7 percent in the period, while Africa saw a rise of just 1.2 percent. Latin American wealth grew by 3.6 percent in the period. According to Credit Suisse Group AG (ADR) (NYSE:CS), the rise in wealth in the United States was driven by an increase in the price of houses and an increase in the price of the stock market through 2013.
Wealth in the Eurozone
The report drew particular attention to the increase in wealth in the Eurozone during the period. Wealth per adult was 154,900 euros in the middle of 2013. Austria, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands have levels of wealth at around the Eurozone level, while France and Luxemburg have wealth about 50 percent higher than the Eurozone level.
The countries in Europe with wealth below the general level of the area include Spain and Cyprus at around 60 percent of the Eurozone average. Greece was at the lower end, with wealth at around 50 percent of the average for the region. The poorest countries in Europe were Estonia and Slovakia with less than 20 percent of the Eurozone average.
Wealth in the future
The Credit Suisse analysts expect that world wealth will rise by about 40 percent in the next five years. The biggest grower will likely be China. The analysts project the country’s wealth will grow by more than 10 percent per year in the next five years. That will result in China having an estimated $35.9 million in wealth in 2018. China will see its share of global wealth grow from 9.2 percent to 10.2 percent.
Wealth in emerging markets as a whole is projected to reach 23 percent of world wealth in the next five years, and the number of millionaires in emerging countries is expected to explode. Brazil is expected to see an 84 percent growth in the number of millionaires in the period to 407. China is estimated to see its number of millionaires doubling to around 2.1 million.
The report shows that the United States has the fifth-highest level of wealth per person in the world. The top five, from top to bottom, is made up of the United States, Luxembourg, Norway, Australia, and Switzerland.
