La ricchezza globale cresce al ritmo più sostenuto degli ultimi anni

The world became substantially wealthier in 2025. Whether most people felt richer is another question.

The newly published UBS Global Wealth Report 2026 estimates that global personal wealth increased by 10.8 percent in US-dollar terms, more than twice the growth recorded in either 2023 or 2024. Strong financial markets contributed to the rise, but the increase was not confined to shares and investment portfolios: non-financial assets, including property, also gained value.

It was the third consecutive year of expansion and the fastest annual increase since 2017. Yet the headline number conceals a less comfortable result. Average wealth rose sharply, while median wealth declined in most of the 56 markets examined by UBS. The assets held by wealthier households increased enough to lift national averages, even as the person in the middle of the distribution often lost ground.

That divergence is the report’s most consequential finding. It suggests that the latest increase in global wealth was real, but neither evenly distributed nor necessarily reflected in greater financial security for the broader population.

Europe’s exceptional year came with a currency advantage

Europe, the Middle East and Africa recorded the strongest regional growth, with total wealth rising by 17.5 percent. Western Europe gained almost 17 percent, while Eastern Europe registered an increase of more than 28 percent. The Americas followed with growth of 8.5 percent, while Asia-Pacific expanded by 5.9 percent.

These figures should not be read as a simple ranking of underlying economic performance. UBS calculates the results in US dollars, which means exchange rates can materially change the picture. The dollar’s depreciation during 2025 amplified the reported value of assets denominated in currencies that strengthened against it. Europe’s apparent acceleration was therefore partly a currency translation effect rather than a direct equivalent of higher local purchasing power or productivity.

The effect was large enough to alter the geographical distribution of global wealth. Europe, the Middle East and Africa increased their combined share from just under 25 percent in 2024 to 26.6 percent in 2025. Asia-Pacific’s share fell from almost 36 percent to 32.8 percent, while the Americas remained broadly stable at 40.6 percent.

The United States nevertheless retained its dominant position. It accounted for 35.7 percent of the personal wealth covered by the report, while Greater China held 18.5 percent. Together, the two markets remained home to more than half of the world’s personal wealth.

Nearly one million people became dollar millionaires

The global population of US-dollar millionaires grew by 1.5 percent in 2025. That increase translated into almost one million additional millionaires, or more than 2,680 people crossing the threshold each day. Every one of the 56 markets in the UBS sample finished the year with more dollar millionaires than it had at the beginning.

The United States created more than 441,000 of them, accounting for almost half of the global increase. The UK added more than 43,000, while France, Spain, Japan and India each added more than 30,000. Eastern European markets produced some of the fastest percentage increases, led by Lithuania, Türkiye, Latvia and Hungary.

The geographical concentration remains striking. More than 23.6 million of the approximately 57.5 million dollar millionaires identified by UBS live in the United States. Mainland China follows with 5.3 million, while Japan, Germany, the UK and France each have more than two million. North America and Western Europe together account for more than 70 percent of the total.

The numbers do not simply measure entrepreneurial fortunes or liquid investment portfolios. UBS defines wealth as financial and non-financial assets minus debt. In many markets, a substantial proportion of millionaire status comes from owner-occupied property, retirement savings and accumulated investment assets rather than readily spendable cash.

That distinction has become more important as property prices have pushed homeowners over the million-dollar threshold without producing a comparable rise in income.

A millionaire may still be short of liquidity

For households with net wealth between USD 1 million and USD 5 million, the family home is commonly the single largest asset. A rise in its estimated market value can create a millionaire on paper, but it does not pay ordinary expenses unless the property is sold, refinanced or otherwise converted into cash.

UBS therefore separates total personal wealth from liquid or investable wealth. Its broad definition of liquid assets includes cash, deposits, voluntary retirement accounts, investment funds and directly held securities. Property, mandatory pension entitlements and life insurance are generally treated as illiquid.

The balance varies considerably by country. Direct ownership of shares and investment funds means that almost half of US net wealth is liquid. Australia also has a relatively high liquid share. In European markets where more household wealth is tied up in property, pensions or insurance, the proportion is generally lower.

This affects how wealth responds to shocks. Two households may have the same net worth while facing very different financial realities. One may hold a diversified investment portfolio that can be accessed quickly. The other may own an expensive home but have limited income and little cash available for an unexpected bill.

The UBS findings also point to a gradual shift towards more investable household balance sheets. Across the selected markets, the share of wealth held in liquid assets has generally increased over the past ten to fifteen years. That may improve flexibility, but it also makes household fortunes more directly exposed to financial-market movements.

Average wealth says little about the typical adult

Switzerland once again ranked first for average wealth per adult, at USD 910,382. The United States followed with USD 696,277, ahead of Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore.

The order changes dramatically when median wealth is used. Luxembourg ranked first at USD 394,005, followed by Belgium and Australia. Switzerland fell to eighth place with median wealth of USD 145,555. The United States, despite ranking second by average wealth, placed only 28th by the median measure.

The gap between those two figures offers a clearer indication of distribution. Average wealth is calculated by dividing all wealth by the adult population and can be lifted substantially by a relatively small group of very wealthy people. Median wealth identifies the point at which half of adults own more and half own less.

Neither measure is sufficient on its own. Median wealth can obscure what is happening at the top, while averages can imply a level of prosperity that most people do not experience. Purchasing power, debt, pension structures and the cost of housing further complicate comparisons between countries. UBS explicitly cautions that there is no single definitive measure of how wealthy a society is.

The 2025 results make that caveat particularly important. The increase in global average wealth was powerful, but falling median wealth across much of the sample indicates that the gains were concentrated.

The wealth pyramid is becoming less recognisable

There is, however, evidence of long-term progress lower down the distribution.

In 2000, almost three-quarters of the global adult population examined by UBS had net assets below USD 10,000. That proportion had fallen to just over 41 percent by the end of 2025. The next bracket, between USD 10,000 and USD 100,000, has expanded to a similar size and now represents 41.1 percent of adults. A further 15.3 percent hold between USD 100,000 and USD 1 million, while 1.5 percent own more than USD 1 million.

The traditional wealth pyramid, with a very broad base and narrow upper tiers, is therefore changing shape. The lowest band is now only marginally larger than the one immediately above it. UBS suggests that, if the present direction continues, the USD 10,000 to USD 100,000 group could become the largest before the end of the decade.

Part of this apparent progress reflects inflation and the report’s use of nominal dollar thresholds. Adjusting the data for changes in prices reduces the scale of the improvement, although it does not reverse the longer-term movement.

It would therefore be misleading to describe the shift as an uncomplicated expansion of a global middle class. Moving from USD 9,000 to USD 11,000 in net assets changes a person’s statistical category but may do little to alter their material security. Still, the contraction of the lowest wealth tier across a quarter of a century remains significant.

More wealth, greater concentration

At the upper end, wealth continues to expand rapidly.

UBS estimates that approximately seven million adults now hold between USD 5 million and USD 100 million in net assets. More than four million live in the United States, over half a million in mainland China and almost 245,000 in Germany. Several of these high-net-worth segments have grown at double-digit compound annual rates.

The number of billionaires has risen as well. Drawing on data covering April 2025 to April 2026, UBS counted 3,302 dollar billionaires, 383 more than a year earlier. More than 1,000 were based in the United States, with 562 in mainland China and 211 in India.

This concentration helps explain why record wealth and public dissatisfaction can coexist. Asset prices can rise, millionaire populations can expand and the lowest wealth category can shrink, while the distance between the middle and the top continues to widen.

The report’s wealth-inequality estimates underline the national differences. Among the 56 markets, the United Arab Emirates and Russia had the highest Gini coefficients for wealth, followed closely by South Africa and Brazil. The United States also ranked among the more unequal markets. Slovakia recorded the lowest coefficient in the sample, followed by Belgium and Qatar.

A lower wealth Gini does not automatically mean that a country is richer or that living standards are higher. It means the assets that exist are distributed more evenly. A society can have relatively modest wealth and low inequality, or high aggregate wealth alongside pronounced concentration.

What the record year really shows

The UBS report is not evidence that households everywhere enjoyed an exceptional 2025. It is evidence that the value of assets rose strongly and that the benefits depended heavily on what people already owned, where they lived and the currency in which their wealth was measured.

Those with substantial exposure to equities, investment funds and appreciating property were positioned to benefit. Those relying primarily on wages, with few assets or high housing costs, had much less reason to experience the year as a wealth boom.

The rise in millionaire numbers is therefore less surprising than it first appears. When asset prices and exchange rates move favourably, people already near a nominal threshold can cross it without a fundamental change in their economic life.

The more durable question is whether a broader share of the population gains ownership of productive and liquid assets. UBS’s data show some progress in the long-term movement out of the lowest wealth band. The decline in median wealth across most markets in 2025 shows how incomplete that progress remains.

Global wealth has reached another record. The test is no longer whether the total can keep rising, but whether the next increase leaves the person in the middle better off as well.