New Delhi: World is getting richer and fast. So much so that soon if there isn’t be a millionaire living next door, there would sure be one living a few blocks away.
According to the 11th Annual World Wealth Report 2007 released by Merrill Lynch & Co. and US consulting firm Capgemini Group, the exclusive ‘High Net Worth Individuals’ club is fast expanding with the India boasting of a 20 per cent increase in its richest class.
The report says expansion of the world's richest class was the strongest in both India and Singapore.
In the annual study's first breakdown of philanthropic giving, individuals worth $1 million or more donated an estimated total of $285 billion in 2006.
The report also says the combined wealth of the globe's richest individuals rose more than 11 per cent to a total of $37.2 trillion last year - the first double-digit increase in seven years.
So if world’s rich decided to combine their assets and split the money evenly among all 9.5 million of them, they'd each be left with nearly $3,915,789 – an amount enough for each to buy about 12 Rolls Royce luxury cars or more than 7,000 of Apple Inc.'s new iPhones.
Thanks to a strong global economy, 9.5 million people held at least $1 million in financial assets -- excluding the value of their primary homes -- in 2006, up from 8.7 million in 2005, according to the 11th annual World Wealth Report compiled by Merrill Lynch & Co. and consulting firm Capgemini Group.
Those accumulated trillions give these individuals control of about a quarter of the world's total wealth, or nearly three times the United States' gross domestic product.
Associated Press reports that worldwide, gross-domestic-product growth and accelerating market capitalisation - or the value of corporations' outstanding shares in the global market - fueled the generation of wealth, the report found.
The expansion of the world's richest class was the strongest in both India and Singapore, the report found, which each boasted increases of more than 20 per cent.
In the annual study's first breakdown of philanthropic giving, individuals worth $1 million or more donated an estimated total of $285 billion in 2006.
Charitable giving has become more important in millionaires' overall investment strategies in recent years, Ileana van der Linde, a principal in Capgemini's wealth management practice, said Wednesday.
If all ranks of the world's wealthiest decided to give away their combined assets, they could pay off the US federal deficit, 250 times over. Or they could write a check for nearly $33,000 to every resident of India.
(With agency inputs)
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