Brazil News
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil gained 10,000 new millionaires in 2011, and is the country with the fastest growing population of ultra rich in the world. The data are from consultancy Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management, which published a report yesterday which is a benchmark for assessing the income of the world population with high personal net worth.
Ultra Rich Population Grows in Brazil
In total, Brazil has 165,000 millionaires – people with more than U.S. $1 million dollars available for investment. In 2010, the number was 155,000. With the expansion – the strongest among the largest economies – Brazil moves to overcome Italy in the absolute count of millionaires. In recession, Italy saw their numbers fall from 170,000 to 168,000.
In percentage terms, the growth of the Brazilian millionaire count is strong. In absolute numbers China stands out. In one year the country has increased from 535,000 to 562,000 millionaires. China is the fourth largest economy with the largest tally of millionaires in the world – behind the United States, Japan and Germany.
Brazil appears in 11th place, surpassing Russia, South Korea and India. Pulled by business-related commodities, whose prices increased, the tally of millionaires in Brazil grew 6.2% in the year. “The gross national income, national savings, property and other indicators are positive (in Brazil),” the report said. Not coincidentally, Brazil is the new focus of companies in the luxury sector, eager to offset their stagnant sales in Europe by the new ultra rich in Brazil.
In total, 11 million people worldwide are millionaires. The report shows that the volume of money in this group declined by 1.7% to U.S. $ 42 trillion. U.S., Japan and Germany have together 53% of millionaires. The Asia-Pacific region has the highest number in continental terms (3.37 million). North America comes in second with 3.35 million. Europe has 3.17 million.
In Europe, the total assets of these people declined 1.1% to $ 10.1 trillion. In Latin America, the decline was 2.9%, although the total number of millionaires has increased by 5.4%.
The study said the global economic crisis had little impact on the number of ultra rich in Latin America. The value of the wealth of this group increased from $5.8 trillion to $7.1 trillion since 2008, driven by businesses that involve minerals, agricultural products and energy.
In the overall stock market, the fact is that during the crisis, listed companies saw their values fall in 2011. “The global market value of publicly traded companies ended the year at U.S. $43.1 trillion, down 18.7% from U.S. $53 trillion last year and well below the high U.S. $61.5 trillion in 2007, before the global crisis,” the report says.
In January, Al Jazeera English produced a video exploring the growth in Brazil of the ultra rich, which is well worth watching.
