Zurich-headquartered private bank UBS released its Global Wealth Report 2025 today, providing insights into personal wealth across generations, genders and on a regional level, analyzing 56 markets globally, which are estimated to represent over 92 per cent of the world’s wealth. 

The UBS Global Wealth Report 2025 shows that global wealth grew by 4.6 per cent in 2024, after a 4.2 per cent increase in 2023, continuing a consistent upward trend. But this masks differences between regions, with the speed of growth tilted toward North America in 2024.

The Americas overall accounted for the majority of the increase, with more than 11 per cent, driven by a stable dollar and buoyant financial markets, the report reveals. Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) were lagging behind, with growth rates of below 3 per cent and less than 0.5 per cent respectively. This is in marked contrast to 2023 when the rebound in wealth was led most strongly by growth in EMEA.

A great wealth transfer of $83 trillion is also expected to take place over the next 20 to 25 years, the report shows, with women benefiting from both intra as well as inter-generational shifts as some $9 trillion of this total transfers between spouses. 

Specifically, the 2025 report shows that adults in North America were the wealthiest on average ($593,347) in 2024, followed by Oceania ($496,696) and Western Europe ($287,688). Switzerland continued to top the list for average wealth per adult on an individual market level, followed by the US, Hong Kong SAR and Luxembourg. Denmark, South Korea, Sweden, Ireland, Poland and Croatia recorded the biggest increases in average wealth, all growing at double digit rates, when measured in local currencies, the report shows.  

Eastern Europe achieved the highest regional growth in total personal wealth in 2024 at over 12 per cent, followed by the US. Greater China and Southeast Asia experienced moderate growth, while Western Europe, Oceania and Latin America saw a decline in wealth relative to 2023. 

The US and mainland China also jointly account for more  than half of the entire personal wealth in the sample. A significant gap in wealth per adult persists between North America and Oceania on the one hand, and the world’s other sub-regions on the other, the report reveals. 

The number of millionaires measured in dollars also rose 1.2 per cent in 2024, an increase of more than 684,000 people compared with the previous year, with the US adding over 379,000 new millionaires. That’s more than 1,000 a day. The US, mainland China and France had the highest number of millionaires, with the US accounting for almost 40 per cent of global millionaires, the report shows.  

Over the past 25 years there also has been a consistent increase in wealth across the world, both overall and in each main region individually. Total wealth has risen at a compound annual growth rate of 3.4 per cent since 2000. The wealth band below $10,000 has also ceased to be the most populated one in the sample this decade, having been overtaken by the next-higher band between $10,000 and $100,000. 

However, when measured in dollars and in real terms, over half of the 56 markets in the sample not only didn’t take part in the world’s growth last year, but saw their average wealth per adult decline.  

Over the next five years, the report projects average wealth per adult point to continue to grow. This expansion will be led by the US as well as Greater China, Latin America and Oceania.

The rise of the everyday millionaire 
This year’s report highlights a growing but overlooked segment: the Everyday MILLIonaire (EMILLIs) with investible assets of between $15 to $5 million. Their numbers have more than quadrupled since 2000, reaching around 52 million globally by the end of last year, the report shows.  

This group now accounts for about $107 trillion in total wealth, approaching the $119 trillion held by individuals with over $5 million in assets. The growth of this segment has largely been driven by rising real estate prices and exchange rate effects. Despite regional differences, the long-term upward trend in the Everyday Millionaire group is visible around the globe. 

However, James Mazeau, economist at UBS, acknowledged at the media briefing that a $1 million threshold has perhaps become a bit outdated and as most of these assets will be real estate, they are quite illiquid.  

The great wealth transfer 
The report also highlights differences in wealth distribution among generations in US Millennials (born after 1981) which have the highest proportion of their assets in consumer durables and real estate, and invest more heavily in private businesses. Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) hold over $83 trillion in net wealth, surpassing Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980), the Silent Generation (born before 1945), and Millennials. Globally, wealth allocation also varies: in the report’s spotlight sample, the US stands out with its high allocation in financial investments, Australia in real estate, and Singapore in insurance and pensions, the report reveals. 

Over the next 20 to 25 years, more than $83 trillion is expected to be transferred, with $9 trillion moving horizontally, between spouses, and $74 trillion moving between generations. The largest volume of wealth transfers is anticipated in the US (over $29 trillion), Brazil (nearly $9 trillion), and mainland China (more than $5 trillion), the report shows. 

UBS surveyed 2,000 women investors in the US with at least $1 million in investible assets focusing on three groups of women: those who have inherited from parents, those who expect to inherit, and widows who have assumed full control of household wealth. The findings reveal that 80 per cent of women who inherited from parents faced challenges, such as not knowing the extent of their parents’ wealth or encountering financial surprises.

“This year’s report underscores the evolutionary shifts in wealth ownership, especially the growing influence of women and the enduring importance of property and long-term asset trends,” Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, said. 

UBS, which manages $6.1 trillion of invested assets as per fourth quarter 2024, operates in more than 50 markets around the globe, and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).