Thursday

28th Mar 2024

America leapfrogs Europe as world's richest region

  • Global wealth hit a historic high (Photo: snorski)

At $241trillion, global wealth has reached an historic high as the gap between income disparities widen.

“We expect global wealth to rise by nearly 40 percent over the next five years, reaching $334 trillion by 2018,” noted the 2013 Credit Suisse Wealth Report on Wednesday (9 October).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Half the world’s population own less than 1 percent of the global wealth while over 86 percent of global wealth is in the hands of the richest ten percent.

The top one percent account for 46 percent of global assets.

The report states China now has more people in the top 10 percent of global wealth holders than any other country except for the USA and Japan. China has moved into third place in the rankings, by overtaking Italy and Germany.

Despite some gains in Europe, total wealth in North America overtook European holdings to become the leading region for the first time since 2005.

The United States tops the list with five successive years in rises of personal wealth and added $8.1 trillion to the global wealth index. At the bottom is Japan, which at $5.8 trillion, lost 20 percent of its net worth in 2013 alone.

China, Germany and France are the only other countries where wealth exceeded $1 trillion between 2012-13, followed by Italy, the UK and Spain.

Despite the Eurozone crisis, a handful of member states saw an increase in the number of millionaires. France topped the list in the EU by adding 287 millionaires in 2012, followed by Germany at 221, and Italy at 127. Spain also gained 47 new millionaires.

European Central Bank data not reliable

The report states that the European Central Bank (ECB) has also understated “the household wealth per adult in most Eurozone countries, with the notable exceptions of Cyprus and Malta.”

An ECB Household Finance and Consumer Survey suggested that the average wealth in Germany was lower than that in Cyprus and Malta.

Credit Suisse dispute the result because the bank’s country comparisons are framed in terms of wealth per household, which vary in size across member states. Credit Suisse says a better comparison is wealth per individual.

They also estimate that the ECB uncovered only 79 percent of non-financial assets in France and exaggerated non-financial assets in Cyprus by a factor of almost five and in Malta by a factor of almost eight.

“Our value is about 20 percent higher for Finland, Germany and Greece, about 35 percent higher for Italy and the Netherlands, and 50 percent above the ECB level for France,” says Credit Suisse.

Magazine

Risk of poverty greatest in Bulgaria

Bulgaria has the highest percentage of citizens at risk of poverty in the EU while the UK is home to the greatest wealth disparity between regions.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us