Number of high-net-worth individuals in North America falls by 6.9%

New research from Astons, the international experts on residency and citizenship through investment, reveals that the combined wealth of the world’s High-Net-Worth Individuals has fallen by -3.6% in the last 12 months, with North America suffering the greatest losses when it comes to the number of wealthy individuals.

A high-net-worth individual (HNWI) is someone with liquid assets of at least $1 million. To understand how the wealth of these people has changed in the midst of recent economic and financial turmoil around the globe, Astons has analysed the combined wealth of HNWIs from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Latin America between 2015-2022.

The research shows that the combined wealth of the world’s HNWIs totalled $82,919 billion in 2022. This marks a -3.6% decline since 2021 when combined global wealth peaked at $85,978 billion.

The super-wealthy of North America suffered the worst annual drops. Their combined wealth of $25,632 billion in 2022 is -7.4% less than 2021’s total of $27,675 billion.

European HNWIs have an estimated combined wealth of $18,171, marking an annual decline of -3.2%, while HNWIs in Asia have lost -2.7% of their combined wealth.

However, those in Latin America (2.1%), Africa (1.6%), and the Middle East (1.5%) have seen their fortunes increase despite widespread economic challenges.

As a result of these changes, Latin America’s richest people have increased their share of global HNWI wealth by 0.6% while North Americans have relinquished -1.3%, more than any other continent.

Despite this, North American HNWIs still account for the largest proportion of global wealth at 30.9%, followed by Asia (29.7%), Europe (21.9%), Latin America (11.1%), Middle East (4.1%), and Africa (2.2%).

When it comes to the number of HNWIs in each continent, North America has experienced the biggest loss of the past year, seeing its number of HNWIs fall by -6.9%, from 7,899 in 2021 to 7,354 in 2022, with this potentially attributed to their migration to other more HNWI-friendly regions.

Asia and Europe both lost -2% of their HNWIs, while the Middle East (2.7%), Africa (4.3%), and Latin America (4.7%) all saw their numbers increase.