UHNWI population to grow by 17% in LatAm

The number of UHNWIs in Latin America is set to grow by 17% until 2024, according to the latest figures from Knight Frank.

According to Knight Frank's Wealth Report 2020, which tracks UHNWIs - those with over $30m - worldwide, Asia is set to witness the most growth in its UHNWI population. It currently has 103,335 HNWIs and this is set to increase by 44% over the next five years.

Africa is reported to witness the second-highest level of growth in the same time period, 32%, from a base of 4,501 UHNWIs in 2019.

North America, the region which holds the highest number of UHNWIs at 249,900, is set to only increase by 22%. Latin America and the Middle East will experience a 17% surge each.

The global UHNWI population is set to experience growth of 27% between 2019 and 2024. In addition, the number of HNWIs in 2019 grew by 31,000, an increase of 6.4% compared to the previous year. The total now stands at more than 513,200 and is predicted to reach 649,331 in 2024.

In terms of countries, the US led the way with 240,575 UHNWIs and China was a distant second with 61,587. Following these two were Germany (23,078), France (18,776), and Japan (17,013).

Knight Frank said in its annual wealth report that while 2019 was a " tumultuous year" for many investors and pension funds, most of the very wealthy reported a bumper year for their personal fortunes.

"Economically, 2019 was outwardly a tumultuous year, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reducing its forecast for global GDP growth from 3.5% in January 2019 to just 2.9% in January 2020 - a 10-year low," the report said.

"Despite this, the world's UHNWI population rose by 6.4% ... This is borne out by the results of our attitudes survey, in which 63% of [wealth managers] said their clients' wealth had increased in 2019, with only 11% reporting a decrease."

The UHNWI population in India is expected to increase by 73% over the next five years, from 6,000 in 2019. Knight Frank expects Egypt, where there are 764, to be the second-fastest growing and increase by 66% by 2024. They are followed by Vietnam, China and Indonesia.

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