Where the Rich Live

AP Executive specialises in recruitment at senior level all over the world, so the following story about the global spread of high net worth individuals caught our eye.

While it is tempting to think that the USA and the UK are badly – possibly terminally – damaged as a result of the recession, and that nobody has any money anymore, a report by Forbes, the American media company which specialises in lists, includes both transatlantic allies in the top ten in terms of high-net-worth individuals who live there (Forbes uses the definition of a HNWI as someone with $1m in financial assets).

Because the report looks at totals rather than percentages of population, bigger countries feature prominently, ruling out small places such as the Channel Islands and Monaco, which might well be high up on any list that took a proportional view. At number ten is Brazil, with 131,000 HNWIs, just behind (perhaps surprisingly) Italy and Switzerland. Above them are Canada and France, while plucky old UK sits at number four, just behind China, which, Forbes says, creates 55 new millionaires every day. That huge country comes just below Germany, which in turn follows Japan (1,366,000 HNWIs).

At the top of the pile is the USA, with 2,460,000 people who don’t have to think twice before using the cash machine or going out for dinner.

Notable absentees include India and Russia; these two countries, along with Brazil and China, form part of the group of emerging financial superpowers known, through their initials, as BRIC.