Stacks of Canadian $100 bills.selensergen/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Personal wealth around the world grew by 8.3 per cent last year to $263-trillion (U.S.) despite a still-sluggish economy, according to a study by Credit Suisse AG.
And the richest 1 per cent of the world's population own almost half of the global wealth, the survey – published Tuesday – found.
"Taken together, the bottom half of the global population own less than 1 per cent of total wealth. In sharp contrast, the richest decile (one-tenth) hold 87 per cent of the world's wealth, and the top percentile alone account for 48.2 per cent of global assets," the report said.
That's up from 46 per cent in Credit Suisse's report on global wealth last year.
For calendar 2013, the report estimates that global wealth rose by $21.9-trillion, more than the amount gained in any other 12-month period since 2000, and also exceeding the total loss that resulted from the 2007-2008 financial crisis: $12.3-trillion.
"On that basis, it seems likely that personal wealth has recently been rising at the fastest rate ever recorded."
Worldwide, the study estimates there are 128,200 ultra-high-net-worth individuals, those whose net worth is greater than $50-million.
The United States far surpasses other countries with a "huge margin" of 65,500 ultra-rich individuals, a stunning one-year increase of 9,500, the authors said. China is in second place with 7,600 ultra-high-net-worth residents.
The global record-breaking run, however, may be coming to an end, they caution.
"The period since January 2013 has been exceptional, breaking numerous records regarding increases in the value of household assets, both globally and for individual countries. The combination of unusual stock market growth , robust housing markets and favorable exchange rate movements is unlikely to be repeated soon, so future prospects for wealth are more muted. Indeed, they may well be negative if the downward trend in interest rates in recent years goes into reverse, and asset prices begin to fall."
"These figures give more evidence that inequality is extreme and growing, and that eonomic recovery following the financial crisis has been skewed in favour of the wealthiest," Oxfam International's head of inequality Emma Seery said in a news release Tuesday.
The Credit Suisse study shows that wealth inequality fell slightly before the financial crisis but that it has tended to rise since 2008, especially in the developing world, the anti-poverty group said.
The report predicts that private wealth will rise 40 per cent to $369-trillion by 2019, equivalent to an annual growth rate of 7 per cent, outstripping projected GDP growth.
Net worth per adult has attained a new all-time high of $56,000 worldwide, the survey found.
The richest countries – posting wealth per adult over $100,000 – are in North America, Western Europe and among the rich Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern nations, the report said.
The top spot is held by Switzerland, with a record $581,000 in the past year; Australia is second at $431,000, followed by Norway at $359,000. The United States is fourth at $348,000.
The authors estimate that, in 2014, 3.3 billion individuals – more than 70 per cent of adults worldwide – have wealth below $10,000. Another billion – 21 per cent – are in the $10,000-to-$100,000 range.
Developed economies with very high inequality are Hong Kong, Switzerland and the U.S., according to the report.
Canada is in the "medium inequality" bracket, along with Australia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland and Italy.
Those boasting the lowest inequality are Belgium and Japan.
Bertrand Marotte