The Henley and Partners firm has published a ranking of the 50 global cities with the most billionaires. If Asian metropolises are progressing, European and American cities still hold the upper hand.
Real haunts of great fortunes. The consulting firm Henley & Partners has just published a study identifying the global cities in which you are most likely to meet billionaires. To establish this ranking, the Switzerland-based firm used data provided by wealth research company New World Wealth. Individual wealth is determined based on holdings of listed companies, cash holdings, and debt-free residential real estate holdings.
The United States remains the land of choice for the wealthy. New York alone has 60 billionaires, a little less than the San Francisco region and its famous Silicon Valley. Nearly 60 billionaires have set up shop in this cradle of global technology. Los Angeles also attracts big wallets. But more and more millionaires are fleeing the metropolises of the East and West coasts to take refuge in the cities of the “Sun Belt” American (Miami, Dallas, Austin).
France attracts the very rich, from Paris to Nice
If the United States retains a place of choice, Asia is not left out. In ten years, the contingent of Chinese millionaires has skyrocketed. There are now 125,600 in Beijing and 123,400 in Shanghai. In Hangzhou, a metropolis in eastern China specializing in new technologies, the number of millionaires increased by 125% between 2013 and 2023. The great fortunes could be fewer in number in the future, due to the slowdown of the Chinese economy.
The decline of millionaires has already been noted in Japan. Its two main cities, Tokyo and Osaka have lost 5% and 12% of their millionaires respectively over the last decade. More liberal in business than China, Singapore remains a paradise for global fortunes: around thirty billionaires live together on this 719 km² island. Still in Asia, India is making a remarkable breakthrough. Mumbai and Delhi are home to times more millionaires than in 2013.
Europe is maintaining its course. Paris and its region follow London in sixth place in the ranking with 165,000 millionaires and 23 billionaires. In theory, therefore, one in 74 Ile-de-France residents is a millionaire. Further south, the charm of “French Riviera” still operates: more than 25,000 millionaires have set down their suitcase between Nice and Eze, including 9 billionaires. On the rest of the continent, Frankfurt, Zurich and Geneva are also doing well, whether for the vigor of their industrial fabric, the agility of their financial center or the attraction of banking secrecy.
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The massacre of Moscow millionaires
The Swiss firm also notes the attractiveness of Australia, which has 4 cities in the Top 50, namely Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. “Its proximity to Asia, its resource-rich economy and its high quality make it a magnet for the wealthy from around the world”. No traces, however, of African or South American cities in the ranking. “No city in Africa or South America finds its place in the top”notes the cabinet, while emphasizing the potential of the Kenyan and South African capitals.
Across the globe, the number of millionaires has skyrocketed over the past decade. A boom which can be explained by the solid performance of the financial markets, despite the shock of the health crisis, and the gradual attenuation of inflationary pressures. Ukraine’s invasion of Russia has shaken Russian oligarchs. Moscow has fallen to 37th place in the world rankings, with just over 30,000 millionaires and only 20 billionaires. That’s a drop of 24% in ten years.
