The UAE will add nearly 6,000 millionaires every year in five years, attracted by the country’s growing appeal among the high net worth individuals from across the globe.
According to the Global Wealth Report released by Swiss bank UBS, the number of millionaires with assets of over $1 million will increase by nearly 29,866 or 15 per cent from 202,201 in 2023 to 232,067 in 2028.
Henley and Partners recently forecast a record net inflow of 6,700 millionaires into the UAE this year, the highest among all the countries.
For the third year running, the UAE looks set to take first place as the world’s leading wealth magnet, significantly boosted by large inflows from the UK, India and Europe.
“With its zero income tax, golden visas, luxury lifestyle, and strategic location, the UAE has entrenched itself as the world’s number one destination for migrating millionaires… With consistent high inflows from India, the wider Middle East region, Russia, and Africa, the anticipated influx of larger numbers of Brits and Europeans looks set to see the Emirates attract nearly twice as many millionaires as its nearest rival, the US, which is projected to benefit from a net inflow of 3,800 millionaires in 2024,” said Henley and Partners.
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The UAE will see a higher migration of millionaires than Germany, Hungary, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, Portugal, Italy, China, Greece, Netherlands and the UK. While Taiwan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Japan will lead with higher percentage growth of millionaires between 2023 and 2028.
The UAE was also ranked among the 15 countries which saw the highest average growth in wealth per adult from 2022 to 2023 in local currency.
Wealth in the UAE grew at a 16 per cent annual compound growth rate between 2000 and 2010 and 4 per cent between 2010 and 2023.
This growth is truly reflected in luxury property prices which have skyrocketed due to the inflow of high-net-worth individuals after the pandemic. Knight Frank recently reported that the number of prime home listings in the second quarter of 2024 dropped by nearly half to 2,851 as compared to the same period last year.
Swiss bank projected the number of millionaires in Saudi Arabia will also increase by 15 per cent in 5 years, reaching 403,8784 in 2028 as compared to 351,855 in 2023.
Globally, wealth growth recovered 4.2 per cent in 2023 compared to a 3 per cent contraction in the previous year.
However, the bounce back of 4.2 per cent offset the loss from 2022, regardless of whether it is expressed in US dollar or local currencies, and was driven by growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at 4.8 per cent, as well as Asia-Pacific (APAC) at 4.4 per cent.
In 2023, adults in EMEA were the wealthiest on average ($166,000), followed by APAC ($156,000), and the Americas ($146,000).
“Wealth needs careful stewardship and managing it properly needs time, dedication and passion. As the world’s only truly global wealth manager, we understand the shifts and changes in global and local wealth and translate this into opportunities and outcomes for our clients,” said Iqbal Khan, co-president of UBS Global Wealth Management.