Billionares in Western Europe increased their wealth by 19% last year, aided by currency appreciation.
But research from UBS and PWC showed only a small rise in the region’s billionaires. The number of these ultra-wealthy people increased just 4%, to 414.
Meanwhile, China “minted” a new billionaire every week and billionaire wealth in the country rose to $1.2 trillion – the greatest annual increase ever, according to the UBS/PwC billionaires report 2018’, which has just been published and covers figures for last year.
Chinese billionaires increased in number to 373 – up from 318 in the previous year – and their wealth rose by 39%.
In the Americas, wealth increased slower than the global rate: 12%, to 3.6 trillion. However, the region still boasts the biggest wealth concentration from the tech industry.
Overall, billionaires’ wealth enjoyed its greatest-ever increase in 2017, rising 19% to $8.9 trillion shared among 2,158 individuals.
©2018 funds europe
