How Many Millionaires are There in the World?

The word millionaire is generally used to describe a rich person. When we speak of a millionaire, we think about mansions, limousines and yachts. But what is the most accurate definition of a millionaire? The most recognized definition of a millionaire is a person who has financial assets of at least US$ 1 million, excluding the home value. Despite of the images that we associate with this word, the amount of US$1 million nowadays is no longer what is used to be some decades ago. Many people who have this amount today live without luxuries and do not feel rich. However, this amount is used as a measure to differentiate privileged people, who are known as HNWI (High Net Worth Individuals).

How many millionaires, or HNWIs are there in the world? According to the research made by CapGemini and Merryl Lynch published in the World Wealth Report 2006, there are about 2,669,000 millionaires in the United States , or about 0.9% of the population. In the whole world there are 8.7 million millionaires, or about 0.13% of the world-wide population. The total number of millionaires in the world grew 6.5% in 2005. They possess a total of US$33.3 trillions in financial assets. The majority of the millionaires are in North America (United States and Canada).

The table below shows the distribution of millionaires in the main regions of the world:

• North America - 2.9 million
• Europe - 2.8 million
• Asia-Pacific - 2.4 million
• Latin America - 0.3 million
• Middle East - 0.3 million
• Africa - 0.1 million

There is another level of extreme millionaires. These are the people who possess more than US$30 million in financial assets. These people are trully rich, and have the financial power to live in mansions, and to buy yatches. There are a total of 85,400 people in the world who fall in this level of wealth, and almost half are in North America. Although this level of wealth is practically unreacheable for the great majority of people, the goal of becoming a millionaire, or to be a HNWI, is completely viable for most people. If you have this objective you may be curious to know where the wealth of these millionaires comes from.

Here is a comparison of the origin of the wealth of the millionaires around the world:

• Business / business sales - 37%
• Wage income - 24%
• Inheritances - 18%
• Investments - 10%
• Restricted stocks/stock options - 9%
• Other - 2%

An interesting fact about the origin of wealth of millionaires is that there are significant regional differrences. For example, in Europe and Latin America the biggest portion of the wealth of millionaires (about half) is from business or business sales. However, in the Middle East, the biggest percentage of the wealth (36%) is from inheritances, and in the United States the biggest portion (32%) is from wage income.

If you want to increase your chances of becoming a millionaire, here are some interesting statistics:

• 61% of millionaires are more than 56 years old, although only 15% of the world-wide population belong to this age bracket
• 84% of millionaires are married
• 83% of millionaires have children

The great majority of the world-wide population (99.87%) does not belong to this exclusive club of millionaires. However, the chances of you becoming a millionaire increase substantially when you live in a rich country, such as in the United States. As we saw here, most American millionaires built their fortune with wage income. You do not even need to have a business to become a millionaire in the United States! Even if you are just an employee, you too can get there.