BUOYANT financial markets meant that global wealth rose by 6.4% in the 12 months to June, the fastest pace since 2012. And the ranks of the rich expanded again, with 2.3m new millionaires added to the total, according to the Credit Suisse Research Institute’s global wealth report.
The report underlines the sharp divide between the wealthy and the rest. If the world’s wealth were divided equally, each household would have $ 56,540. Instead, the top 1% own more than half of all global wealth. The median wealth per household is just $ 3,582; if you own more than that, you are in the richest 50% of the world’s population.
America continues to dominate the ranks of millionaires with 43% of the global total. Both Japan and Britain had fewer dollar millionaires than they did in June 2016, thanks to declines in the yen and sterling. Emerging economies have been catching up in the millionaire stakes; they now have 8.4…
The Economist: Finance and economics
