Nearly 1 Million New Rich People Born in 2025, the US Still Dominates

Illustration of the US dollar. The UBS report said that almost one million people in the world will enter the US dollar millionaire group by 2025, driven by rising asset values and strengthening financial markets. Photo: Pexels

JAKARTA - Nearly one million people will enter the US dollar millionaire group by 2025. They are people with a net worth of at least US$1 million. According to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2026, the number of the world's wealthy continues to increase as global personal wealth jumps 10.8 percent.

Citing a report by Gulf News, Tuesday, June 30, the world's population of dollar millionaires rose 1.5 percent last year. This means that more than 2,680 new wealthy people are born every day.

The United States is the largest contributor. More than 440,000 people in the US will enter the dollar millionaire group by 2025, almost half of the global addition.

The UAE also recorded an increase. The number of dollar millionaires in the country reached 183,000, up 3.5 percent from 2024. Saudi Arabia has about 348,000 dollar millionaires, up 2.6 percent.

According to Gulf News, the UAE is one of the markets with the strongest wealth growth in the UBS sample, which includes 56 countries and territories in 2020-2025.

The average wealth per adult in the UAE rose by almost 25 percent. Median wealth rose by more than 40 percent. The median means the middle point, so this increase shows growth not only in the richest group.

The growth of the UAE's wealth is supported by asset growth, capital flows, the birth of many new businesses, and the increase in high-income populations.

Saudi Arabia also grew steadily. Average wealth per adult rose by almost 4 percent after taking inflation into account. Median wealth rose 4.9 percent.

UBS also highlighted the low household debt in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. In the two countries, debt is only about 6 percent of gross wealth, including the lowest in the report.

Globally, the increase in wealth has not been even. Average wealth rose sharply, but median wealth fell in many markets. This means that the gap between the richest group and the wider community is still widening.

Europe, the Middle East, and Africa recorded the strongest wealth growth, almost 18 percent. Western Europe grew by almost 17 percent, while Eastern Europe jumped 28 percent.

Asia-Pacific grew more slowly, slightly above 5.9 percent. However, this region remains a center of the rich, especially in Greater China and Southeast Asia.

The US is still home to the world's largest number of millionaires. UBS estimates that more than 23.6 million dollar millionaires live in the US, more than 40 percent of the total in the report's sample.

Mainland China has more than 5.3 million dollar millionaires. Japan is close to 3 million.

North America and Western Europe together account for more than 70 percent of the world's millionaire population. If North America is combined with Greater China, the share reaches more than 56 percent.

UBS also noted that the world's wealth pyramid is changing. The number of adults with wealth below US$10,000 continues to fall, while the middle wealth group is growing.

Around 1.5 percent of adults in the UBS sample now have wealth of more than US$1 million.

The report also noted the rapid growth of the group with wealth of over US$5 million. UBS said this group was one level above Everyday Millionaires, those who had a net worth of at least US$1 million. The fastest growth of this group was in mainland China, Australia, and the United States.