Global personal wealth climbed 10.8% in 2025, marking its fastest growth in years and creating nearly one million new US dollar millionaires worldwide [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. The global millionaire population reached between 57.5 million and 58 million individuals, growing 1.5% year on year, which translates to roughly 2,680 new millionaires every day [9, 10, 4, 6, 8].

The United States accounted for nearly half of these new millionaires, contributing about 440,000 to 444,000 additional wealthy individuals last year [1, 2, 9, 4, 6, 8]. Strong stock market gains, with the US market rising nearly 18% in 2025, played a major role in boosting wealth globally [1, 2, 9, 4, 6, 8].

Europe saw especially rapid millionaire wealth growth in US dollar terms, spurred largely by the US dollar weakening against the euro during 2025. The EMEA region experienced about 18% asset growth, with Western Europe up 17% and Eastern Europe surging 28% [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8]. The Middle East also saw notable growth; the UAE’s millionaires increased 3.5% to 183,000, and Saudi Arabia’s rose 2.6% to 348,000 [8].

In contrast, Asia-Pacific wealth growth was slower, around 5.9%, with Mainland China and Japan hosting the region's largest millionaire populations. China’s millionaire count increased only 0.3%, adding approximately 14,079 individuals to reach 5.3 million [10, 4, 8].

Despite rising average wealth levels, the global wealth gap continued to widen since 2020, as median wealth declined in most countries [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Meanwhile, the number of billionaires worldwide rose 13% to a record 3,302 through April 2026, with their average wealth growing about 25%, partly driven by the AI boom. UBS economist James Mazeau noted, “Most [billionaire] wealth is tied to listed companies. So part of the rise is due to equity markets. The AI boom story is fuelling equity markets.” He added, “The higher you go in the wealth bands, the more wealth creation will tend to be linked to either the performance of your business or your investment portfolio—or both.” [9, 6]

The next key update on global wealth figures will come after the conclusion of 2026, following continued monitoring of equity markets and economic trends worldwide.