Asia-Pacific’s riches grew 177% in last 15 years, outpacing rest of world, UBS finds

The Asia-Pacific region has outpaced other regions in terms of wealth growth since 2008, according to the latest UBS global wealth report.

Wealth in the region has grown by nearly 177 per cent since the Swiss bank began its annual report 15 years ago. The Americas came in second at nearly 146 per cent, while Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) saw the slowest growth at 44 per cent.

The report looked at more than 50 markets and found that overall wealth has progressively increased across the board.

However, Asia-Pacific’s exceptional growth trajectory in both financial and non-financial wealth has come along with a substantial spike in debt, the report added. Total debt in the region grew by more than 192 per cent since 2008, more than 20 times the growth in EMEA and almost four times the figure for the Americas.

Emerging economies tend to experience fast growth in the use of credit as their financial markets develop, the report said.

Conversely, comparatively low debt growth in Western markets may be because many households in the US and in Europe had to pay back debt over the last decade following the financial crisis.

There are 2,600 individuals who own between US$1 billion and US$50 billion, and 12 individuals in the US$51 billion to US$100 billion bracket. The top wealth bracket contains 14 individuals who have more than US$100 billion.

“The past 30 years have witnessed a strong rise in these wealth brackets, driven by the technology industry boom,” the report said. The growth of equity markets, rising real estate prices, globalisation and the expansion of emerging market economies have contributed to the overall rise in wealth.

The US hosts the highest number of millionaires in the world at nearly 22 million,