RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Last year, 14,000 Brazilians joined the group of those possessing assets above US$1 million (R$4 million), according to the Capgemini consultancy’s annual report on world wealth. As a result, the number of millionaires in Brazil grew eight percent, from 171,500 people to 185,500.
The study considers the so-called HNWIs (high net worth individuals), who have fortunes above US$1 million, excluding housing, collectibles, and consumer durables.
It is the second consecutive year of increase in the number of millionaires in Brazil.
In spite of the increase in the number of millionaires in Brazil last year, the total assets of this group declined three percent in the period, to US$4.4 trillion, according to the survey.
The World Wealth Report 2019 shows that the number of millionaires in the world fell for the first time in 2018 (-0.3 percent) after seven consecutive years of growth in the total assets of people with high incomes. There was a three percent decrease compared to the previous year, roughly US$2 trillion less.
Last year, the United States, Japan, Germany, and China accounted for 61 percent of the total global population of high-income individuals.
In the world, the country most affected by the decline in wealth was China, which alone accounted for more than half (53 percent) of all losses in the Asia-Pacific region and more than 25 percent of the decline in global wealth.
The group of the super-rich (wealth above US$30 million) decreased by four percent and saw their assets reduced by about six percent, accounting for 75 percent of the total reduction in global wealth in the year.
Intermediate millionaires (ranging from $5 million to $30 million) accounted for another twenty percent of the total decline. And the lowest segment, with assets ranging from $1 million to $5 million (or nearly ninety percent of the high-income population) was the least affected in 2018, as their wealth declined by less than 0.5 percent, according to the report.