The number of wealthy people in the world's second-biggest economy has grown exponentially over the past decade, according to a new study. But the increase in the private wealth market is expected to slow this year.
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The number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in China has risen nearly 9 times in the last decade, a private survey released on Tuesday showed, as strong growth in the world's second-largest economy has spurred wealth creation.
The number of Chinese with at least 10 million yuan ($1.47 million) of investable assets hit 1.6 million in 2016, up from 180,000 in 2006, according to the 2017 China Private Wealth Report by Bain Consulting and China Merchants Bank.
The overall value of the private wealth market increased to 165 trillion yuan ($24 trillion) in 2016, growing at 21 percent annually in 2014-2016.
The percentage of HNWIs with overseas investments increased to 56 percent in 2017, up from 19 percent in 2011, but the overall percentage of assets invested overseas has stabilized since 2013.
The top destinations for overseas investment were Hong Kong, the United States, Australia and Canada; although Hong Kong's popularity fell 18 percent and the United States dropped three percent from 2015 to 2017.
Respondents said their top three reasons for investing overseas were to diversify investment risks, to capture market opportunities of overseas investments and to migrate.
Slowing growth
Rapid economic growth in recent decades has led to a massive rise in private wealth not just in China, but across the Asia-Pacific region.
A study released by the consultancy Capgemini last year showed that the number of millionaires in the region was growing steadily.
There were 5.1 million people in the Asia-Pacific region who own more than a million US dollars each, Capgemini's report stated. That marked a 9.4 percent rise in the number of millionaires in Asia, making it the continent with the most super-rich people globally, knocking North America from the top position.
But the latest report by Bain Consulting and China Merchants Bank expects the growth rate of China's private wealth market to decline to 14 percent in 2017, to a total size of 188 trillion yuan.
The pace at which Chinese millionaires are generated is also about to slow down, with the report projecting a growth rate of 18 percent this year, down from the 23 percent surge the country saw between 2014 and 2016.
China's economic expansion has slowed down in recent years, with GDP in 2016 growing by about 6.7 percent, far lower than the double-digit increases it had recorded previously.
Where Asia's millionaires live
Japan is home to the largest population of millionaires in the Asia Pacific, a new report says. But which other countries host the most millionaires in the region? DW takes a look.
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1. Japan
A new report by New World Wealth reveals Japan has the highest number of millionaires in the region, totaling almost 1.3 million. The country's total individual wealth is $15.23 trillion, the second-highest in the Asia Pacific after China. Japan has one of the most even wealth distributions in the world, with a lot of millionaires but relatively few multi-millionaires and billionaires.
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2. China
The world's second-biggest economy has 654,000 millionaires, placing it second on the list. But it has the largest amount of total individual wealth in the region - valued at $17,25 trillion - and the highest number of multi-millionaires. However, the country's wealth per capita is only $12,800, ranked seventh among other Asia Pacific countries.
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3. Australia
While the country only has the third largest number of millionaires - about 290,000 - in Asia Pacific, it tops the list of wealthiest individuals - with wealth per capita being $204,400, well ahead of other rich states in the region. The report suggests that it might be due to the high value of real estate in the country.
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4. India
India hosts the fourth largest number of millionaires in the region - 236,000. But the country is also ranked at the bottom third in terms of wealth per capita, performing only better than Vietnam and Pakistan. The report points out that the growth in the number of millionaires in the South Asian nation is impressive, rising from 40,000 individuals in 2000 to 236,000 in 2015.
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5. Singapore
With a population of only five million, Singapore has 224,000 millionaires, only 12,000 less than India. Not surprisingly, Singapore has a high value of wealth per capita, amounting to $158,300 per person, ranking second on the list following Australia.
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6. Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China)
The Asian financial hub hosts 215,000 millionaires, but also has 9,560 multi-millionaires, ranking after mainland China, Japan and India. Hong Kong has the third-largest luxury market in the region in 2015. The report says that the $19.8 billion worth of annual sales is remarkable considering the size of the city, and suggests it might be due to heavy buying behavior of Chinese.
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7. South Korea
South Korea hosts 125,000 millionaires, fewer than Singapore and Hong Kong. The report predicts that there would be a 55 percent growth in the number of millionaires in the country over the coming decade.
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8. The island of Taiwan
The island has 98,200 millionaires. The number has increased by 75 percent since 2000, a modest rise compared to that in other emerging economies in the region. In fact, the figure has even dropped by 10 percent since last year, when it stood at 109,100.
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9. New Zealand
The nation has 89,000 millionaires among its 4.5 million population. It is also among the top three in the region in terms of wealth per capita, ranked only after Australia and Singapore.
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10. Indonesia
Apart from the traditionally affluent Singapore, the archipelago is the only one from Southeast Asia that made it to the top ten of the list, hosting 48,500 millionaires by the end of 2015. This represents a 525 percent increase since 2000, a larger growth than in China and India.
