The inaugural Henley Global Citizens Report features exclusive data from New World Wealth and reveals that the top three countries in terms of privately-held wealth are now the U.S., China, and Japan.
Thenationalities showing the greatest appetite for investment migration — whereby wealthy investors acquire alternative residence or additional citizenship in exchange for making a substantial contribution to the host country — are India, the U.S., and the UK.
The past two years have seen two big Cs driving wealth and investment migration: COVID and climate change. In 2022, a third C has abruptly emerged: conflict in Europe.
The U.S. is the largest wealth market in the world by some margin, accounting for 32% of total global wealth and 36% of the world's millionaires (high-net-worth-individuals).
The total private wealth held in the country currently amounts to USD 68.8 trillion.
The U.S. also experienced the greatest high-net-worth population growth of the world's 10 wealthiest countries by 'total wealth' (the W10) last year, at 10%.
China, while 2nd in the W10, has only a third of the US's private wealth at USD 23.3 trillion, and its high-net-worth population grew by a comparatively low 4%.
However, dramatic shifts are on the horizon with the U.S.'s 10-year high-net-worth growth forecast at 20% compared to China's 50%. Hot on China's heels is Japan in 3rd place with a total private wealth of USD 20.1 trillion.
While Japan's high-net-worth population grew by just 3% last year, its 10-year forecast growth is a healthy 30%. India, Germany, UK, Australia, Canada, France, and finally Italy complete the W10.
Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley & Partners, says "It's no coincidence that each of the W10 countries has legislation in place granting residence rights to foreign investors — and five host formal investment migration programs. These countries are important investment migration markets in terms of both supply, thanks to their attractive and successful programs, and demand, due to their significant and growing populations of affluent investors."
The Henley Global Citizens Report also reveals that Indian nationals topped the charts for enquiries received by the firm in 2021 by a significant margin, with growth of 54% compared to 2020 — a year which itself saw a 63% rise in interest shown by Indian investors.
U.S. citizens were next in line, with Henley & Partners receiving 26% more enquiries in 2021 after astonishing growth of 208% in 2020. Enquiries by Brits and South Africans shot up by 110% and 38%, respectively, in 2021.
Dominic Volek, Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners says "The rest of the nationalities in our Top 10 for enquiries all come from the global south apart from Canada, in 9th spot, which saw remarkable growth of 86%. In 2022, we are seeing very similar trends, with early signs of exceeding last year's stellar overall growth.
"The combination of W10 countries and developing economies that make up our Top 10 reflects the universal appeal of investment migration for affluent families. In addition to the traditional benefits of enhanced global mobility, residence and citizenship by investment programs offer a proven risk mitigation and growth diversification strategy in terms of wealth and legacy planning with the added lifestyle advantage of domicile optionality." ■