Almost 630,000 people worldwide are now worth at least $30 million, Knight Frank says (2024)

North America had the fastest growth among the world's regions, with its UHNWIs rising by 7.2%. That reflected a strong showing from US stocks and a buoyant US economy as inflation cooled, hopes for advances in artificial intelligence and interest-rate cuts grew, growth proved resilient, and unemployment stayed at historic lows.

"The improving interest rate outlook, the robust performance of the US economy, and a sharp uptick in equity markets helped wealth creation globally," Liam Bailey, the global head of research at Knight Frank, said in a press release.

Affluent people benefited from other assets rising in price as well. Gold gained 15%, bitcoin jumped 155%, residential property values in the world's top markets rose by 3.1%, and rents climbed at triple their long-term average pace, Knight Frank found.

On the other hand, the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index suffered a rare decline of less than 1%. While prices for art, jewelry, and watches rose, the value of whisky, cars, handbags, and furniture declined.

Millennials are set to get richer

Knight Frank also projected a 28% surge in the total number of wealthy people over the next five years, led by India and mainland China.

It also heralded the transfer of $90 trillion of assets from older generations to millennials over the next two decades, which it expects to create "the richest generation in history."

Strikingly, women accounted for just 11% of UHNWIs worldwide, although that was up from 8% less than 10 years ago.

Wealthy boomers also seem more pessimistic about markets and the economy, with only 52% predicting their wealth would grow in the next year, compared with 7% of the Gen Z members surveyed.

Fewer than 10% of boomers said they expected to buy a home this year, compared with more than 20% of millennials.

The difference may reflect that more boomers already own homes, they're more concerned about taking on a mortgage when rates are near a 20-year high, or they're more worried about a stock-market crash or recession and thus reluctant to make any big outlays.