In thefinancial services industry, ahigh-net-worth individual (HNWI) is a person who maintainsliquid assets at or above a certain threshold. Typically the criterion is that the person's financial assets (excluding theirprimary residence) are valuedover US$1 million.[1][2] A secondary level, avery-high-net-worth individual (VHNWI), is someone with at least US$5 million in investable assets.[1] The terminal level, anultra-high-net-worthindividual (UHNWI), holds US$30 million in investable assets (adjusted for inflation).[3] Individuals with a net worth ofover US$1 billion are considered to occupy a special bracket of the UHNWI.[2][4] These thresholds are broadly used in studies ofwealth inequality, government regulation, investment suitability requirements, marketing, financing standards, and general corporate strategy.
UHNWIs constitute only 0.003% of the world's population, yet hold 13% of the world's total wealth.[5] In 2017, 226,450 people were designated as UHNWI, with their combined total wealth increasing to $27 trillion.[6]
TheU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires all SEC-registered investment advisers to periodically file a report known as Form ADV.[7] Form ADV requires each investment adviser to state how many of their clients are "high-net-worth individuals", among other details; its Glossary of Terms explains that a "high-net-worth individual" is a person who is either a "qualified client" under rule 205-3 of the Advisers Act (currently[as of?] a person with at least $1,100,000 managed by the reporting investment adviser, or whose net worth the investment adviser reasonably believes exceeds $2,200,000 without counting their primary residence) or who is a "qualified purchaser" as defined in section 2(a)(51)(A) of theInvestment Company Act of 1940. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act mandates that the definition of a qualified client be reviewed every five years and adjusted for inflation.[8] For SEC purposes, a person's net worth may include assets held jointly with their spouse. Unlike the definitions used in the financial and banking trade, the SEC's definition of HNWI includes the value of a person's verifiable non-financial assets, such as a primary residence or art collection.[9]
The World Wealth Report was co-published byMerrill Lynch andCapgemini who worked together since 1993, investigating the "needs of high-net-worth individuals" to "successfully serve this market segment". Their first annual World Wealth Report was published in 1996.[10] The World Wealth Report defines HNWIs as those who hold at least US$1 million in assets excluding primary residence and UHNWIs as those who hold at least US$30 million in assets excluding primary residence.[11]
The report states that in 2008 there were 8.6 million HNWIs worldwide, a decline of 14.9% from 2007. The total HNWIwealth worldwide totaled US$32.8 trillion, a 19.5% decrease from 2007. The UHNWIs experienced the greater loss, losing 24.6% in population and 23.9% in accumulated wealth. The report revised its 2007 projections that HNWI financial wealth would reach US$59.1 trillion by 2012 and revised this downward to a 2013 HNWI wealth valued at $48.5 trillion advancing at an annual rate of 8.1%.[11] The "World Ultra Wealth Report", on UHNW populations—those with "$30m or more in net worth"—which was published on June 27, 2017, "this year revealed global growth of 3.5% to 226,450 individuals and a 1.5% increase of their total combined wealth to $27 trillion."[6]
The 2018 World Wealth Report[12] was jointly produced by Capgemini andRBC Wealth Management and included, for the first time, the Global HNW Insights Survey produced in collaboration with Scorpio Partnership.[13] The inaugural survey represented one of the largest and most in-depth surveys of HNWIs ever conducted, surveying more than 4,400 across 21 major wealth markets in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa.
| Region | HNWI population (millions) | HNWI wealth (trillions USD) | Wealth per person (millions USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global | 23.413 | 90.475 | 3.864 |
| North America | 8.448 | 29.927 | 3.542 |
| Asia-Pacific | 7.591 | 26.920 | 3.546 |
| Europe | 5.706 | 19.000 | 3.330 |
| Middle East | 0.879 | 3.545 | 4.033 |
| Latin America | 0.587 | 9.158 | 15.601 |
| Africa | 0.202 | 1.925 | 9.530 |
The World Wealth Report has estimated the number and combined investable wealth of high-net-worth individuals as follows (using theUnited States Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation Calculator):[14]
| Year | Number of HNWIs (millions) | Total wealth of HNWIs (trillions USD) | Wealth per person (millions USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 8.579 | 32.773 | 3.820 |
| 2009 | 10.043 | 38.957 | 3.879 |
| 2010 | 10.872 | 42.725 | 3.930 |
| 2011 | 10.963 | 42.004 | 3.831 |
| 2012 | 11.975 | 46.222 | 3.860 |
| 2013 | 13.730 | 52.623 | 3.833 |
| 2014 | 14.650 | 56.403 | 3.850 |
| 2015 | 15.365 | 58.668 | 3.818 |
| 2016 | 16.515 | 63.460 | 3.843 |
| 2017 | 18.083 | 70.168 | 3.880 |
| 2018 | 18.023 | 68.101 | 3.779 |
| 2019 | 19.608 | 73.961 | 3.772 |
| 2020 | 20.838 | 79.576 | 3.819 |
| 2021 | 22.459 | 85.978 | 3.828 |
| 2022 | 21.711 | 82.919 | 3.819 |
| 2023 | 22.828 | 86.790 | 3.802 |
| 2024 | 23.413 | 90.475 | 3.864 |
Certain products cater to the wealthy, whoseconspicuous consumption ofluxury goods and services includes, such as:mansions,yachts, first-class airline tickets andprivate jets, and personalumbrella insurance.[15] As economic growth has made historically expensive items affordable for the middle-class, purchases have trended towards intangible products such as education.[15] In the United States,concierge medicine is an emerging trend as of 2017.[16]
Most global banks, such asBarclays,BNP Paribas,Citibank,Credit Suisse,Deutsche Bank,HSBC,JPMorgan Chase, andUBS, have a separate business unit with designated teams consisting of client advisors and product specialists exclusively for UHNWI. These clients are often considered to have characteristics similar toinstitutional investors because the vast majority of their net worth and current income is derived frompassive sources rather thanlabor. By 2006, asset managers working for HNW individuals invested more than £300 billion on behalf of their clients. These wealth managers are bankers who in 2006, earned multimillion-pound salaries and owned their own companies and equity funds.[17] In 2006, a list of the 50 top investment bankers was published by theSpear's Wealth Management Survey.
Certain magazines, such asMonocle,[18]Robb Report,[19] andWorth, are designed for a high net worth audience. By 2012, according toReuters, the UHNW individuals held $32 trillion in offshore havens, representing $280 billion in lost income tax revenues.[20] Brands in various sectors, such asBentley,Maybach, andRolls-Royce actively target UHNWI and HNWI to sell their products. In 2006, Rolls-Royce researchers suggested there were 80,000 people in ultra-high-net-worth category around the world. UHNW individuals "have, on average, eight cars and three or four homes. Three-quarters own a jet aircraft and most have a yacht."[21]
There are three sources compiling these statistics for cities: the most recent data is from Altrata, which found that the four cities with the highest number of ultra-high net worth individuals, as of 2023, wereNew York City (16,630),Hong Kong (12,546),Los Angeles (8,955), andTokyo (6,445).[22] Below are previous rankings from Wealth-X and the Knight Frank Wealth Report:
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The World Ultra Wealth Report 2013 was co-published by Wealth-X andUBS. The fifth edition of the report was published on June 27, 2017.[6] Previous World Ultra Wealth Reports were published independently by Wealth-X, in 2011 and 2012 respectively:
| Net worth tier US$ millions | 2013 | 2012 | 2012–2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numbers of UHNWs | Total wealth US$ billions | Numbers of UHNWs | Total wealth US$ billions | Increase in numbers of UHNWs | Increase in Total wealth | |
| $1000+ | 2,170 | 6,516 | 2,160 | 6,190 | 0.5% | 5.3% |
| $750 to $999 | 1,080 | 929 | 990 | 855 | 9.1% | 8.7% |
| $500 to $749 | 2,660 | 1,695 | 2,475 | 1,560 | 7.5% | 8.7% |
| $250 to $499 | 8,695 | 3,420 | 8,090 | 3,225 | 7.5% | 6.0% |
| $200 to $249 | 14,185 | 3,205 | 13,500 | 3,035 | 5.1% | 5.6% |
| $100 to $199 | 23,835 | 3,780 | 22,290 | 3,335 | 6.9% | 13.3% |
| $50 to $99 | 60,760 | 4,720 | 56,205 | 4,295 | 8.1% | 9.9% |
| $30 to $49 | 85,850 | 3,505 | 81,670 | 3,280 | 5.1% | 6.9% |
| Total | 199,235 | 27,770 | 187,380 | 25,775 | 6.3% | 7.7% |
TheBoston Consulting Group (BCG) 2014 Global Wealth Report[26] shows that liquid wealth of the super-rich, referenced as Ultra-High-Net-Worth households, had increased by 20% in 2013. BCG uses a household definition of UHNW, which places only those with more than $100 million liquid financial wealth into the UHNW-category, more than the usual $30 million, with which the ultra-category had been created in 2007. They control 5.5% of global financial wealth. 5,000 of them live in the US, followed by China, Britain and Germany. BCG expects the trend toward more concentrated wealth to continue unabated. While financial wealth of the sub-millionaires is expected to increase by 3.7% annually until 2019, the expected growth rate for the super-rich is 9.1%.
67.7% of the world's UHNW population was self-made, 8.5% have fully inherited their wealth and 23.7% have both inherited and self-made wealth according to a 2018 report.[27] According to the same report, twenty-three percent of self-made UHNW individuals have derived their wealth in finance, banking and investment, 8.5 percent in consumer and business services and 7.6 percent in real estate. The share of inherited and self-made wealth varied by country.[28]
The following is a list of the countries with the most Ultra high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI), as of 2023 as per the 2024 Knight Frank's Wealth Report, which it defines as person having net worth of $30 million or more.[29] In South Africa, the term HNWI is often used by SARS to target affluent taxpayers for increased compliance and lifestyle audits.[30]
| Country | Number of UHNWIs (2025) | Growth | % of total |
|---|---|---|---|
 United States | 225,077 | +7.9% | 35.9% |
 China | 98,551 | +3.3% | 15.7% |
 France | 31,149 | +3.9% | 4.7% |
 United Kingdom | 30,014 | +3.9% | 4.7% |
 Germany | 29,021 | +1.1% | 4.6% |
 Canada | 27,928 | +2.0% | 4.5% |
 Japan | 21,710 | +0.3% | 3.5% |
 Italy | 15,952 | +3.8% | 2.5% |
 Australia | 15,347 | +2.9% | 2.4% |
 Switzerland | 14,734 | +5.2% | 2.4% |
 India | 13,263 | +6.1% | 2.1% |
 Spain | 10,149 | +1.7% | 1.6% |
 Netherlands | 8,390 | +0.2% | 1.3% |
 Taiwan | 7,640 | -0.3% | 1.2% |
 South Korea | 7,310 | +5.6% | 1.2% |
 Hong Kong | 5,957 | +2.5% | 1.0% |
 Singapore | 4,783 | +4.0% | 0.8% |
 Sweden | 4,125 | +2.5% | 0.7% |
 New Zealand | 2,587 | +2.9% | 0.4% |
 Norway | 2,276 | +1.1% | 0.4% |
 Austria | 2,167 | +0.3% | 0.3% |
 Turkey | 1,932 | +9.7% | 0.3% |
 Ireland | 1,890 | +0.4% | 0.3% |
 Indonesia | 1,479 | +4.2% | 0.2% |
 Finland | 1,269 | +4.1% | 0.2% |
 Thailand | 889 | +0.8% | 0.1% |
 South Africa | 835 | -1.3% | 0.1% |
 Portugal | 800 | +3.0% | 0.1% |
 Malaysia | 754 | +4.3% | 0.1% |
 Vietnam | 752 | +2.4% | 0.1% |
| World | 626,619 | +4.2% | 100.0% |
| Other | 51,039 | +0.1% | 8.1% |
UHNWIs are notable players in the field of philanthropy; many have their own private foundations and support a variety of causes, from education to poverty relief. Financial institutions are known for their targeting of UHNWIs, having specific parts of their bank designed to manage the wealth of their UHNW clients.[3] In addition, research on the UHNW is particularly important with upcoming intergenerational wealth transfers in the UHNW population.[31] For example, as of 2014, luxury companies typically target UHNW as a separate segment of their clientele.Daily Finance in 2014, projected that growth in Asia's UHNW population looked promising for the future of the luxury industry.[32]
The India'sEconomic Times said in 2014 that, despite the luxury industry's troubled year with China's luxury spenders, luxury industry experts continued to be optimistic for their long-term performance, especially from UHNWIs.[33] According to Savills and Wealth-X, in 2014, UHNWIs are particularly relevant to the real estate sector, with the total UHNW population'sreal estate holdings accounting for over US$5 trillion by 2014, or 3% of the world's real estate holdings. This is a huge proportion considering this population is only 0.003% of the world's population.[34]
New York has the world's largest population of people worth $30 million or more, with 16,630. Hong Kong ranked second, with 12,546, followed by Los Angeles with 8,955 and Tokyo with 6,445.