High-net-worth individual (HNWI) is a technical term used in the financial services industry for people who maintain liquid assets at or above a certain threshold. Typically, they are defined as holding financial assets (excluding their primary residence) valued over US$1 million.[1] [2] A secondary level, a very-high-net-worth individual (VHNWI), refers to someone with a net worth of at least US$5 million. The terminal level, an ultra-high-net-worth individual (UHNWI), holds US$30 million in investible assets (adjusted for inflation).[3] [4] Individuals with a net worth of over US$1 billion are considered to occupy a special bracket of the UHNWI.[5] These thresholds are broadly used in studies of wealth inequality, government regulation, investment suitability requirements, marketing, financing standards, and general corporate strategy.
, it was estimated that there are just over 16 million HNWIs in the world, according to the World's Wealthiest Cities Report 2024 by Henley & Partners. The United States had the highest number of HNWIs (5.5 million) of any country, with California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois domiciling the majority stateside. New York City is the wealthiest and most populous city, with 349,500 HNWIs.[6] UHNWIs constitute only 0.003% of the world's population and hold 13% of the world's total wealth.[7] In 2017, 226,450 people were designated as UHNWI, with their combined total wealth increasing to $27 trillion.
High-net-worth individual (HNWI) refers to people who maintain assets at or above a certain threshold. Typically, they are defined as holding financial assets (excluding their primary residence) with a value over US$1 million. A secondary level, a very-high-net-worth individual (VHNWI), refers to someone with a net worth of at least US$5 million. An ultra-high-net-worth individual (UHNWI) holds at least US$30 million in investable assets (adjusted for inflation). In 2013, there were 211,275 UHNWIs in the world, with a total combined net worth of US$29.7 trillion.[8] [9] Billionaires are a special category of UHNWI, having net worth in excess of US$1 billion. According to the Billionaire Census 2014, there were 2,325 billionaires in the world, with a combined net worth of US$7.3 trillion.[10]
In 2014, they represented just over 1% of the world's UHNW population and 24% of the world's UHNW total wealth. The June 27, 2017 "World Ultra Wealth Report" analysed the state of the world's ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) population, or those with $30m or more in net worth. In 2017, the number of UHNWIs globally grew 3.5% to 226,450. Their combined total wealth increased by 1.5% to $27 trillion.[11] According to Credit Suisse, there were 264,200 UHNWIs with net worth above US$50 million at the end of 2021.[12] According to The Knight Frank Wealth Report, HNWI can refer to someone with a net worth of at least US$1 million, while UHNWI can refer to someone with a net worth of at least US$30 million.[13]
See also: Accredited investor.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires all SEC-registered investment advisers to periodically file a report known as Form ADV.[14] Form ADV requires each investment adviser to state how many of their clients are "high-net-worth individuals", among other details; its Glossary of Terms explains that a "high-net-worth individual" is a person who is either a "qualified client" under rule 205-3 of the Advisers Act (currently a person with at least $1,100,000 managed by the reporting investment adviser, or whose net worth the investment adviser reasonably believes exceeds $2,200,000 without counting their primary residence) or who is a "qualified purchaser" as defined in section 2(a)(51)(A) of the Investment Company Act of 1940). The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act mandates that the definition of a qualified client be reviewed every five years and adjusted for inflation.[15] For SEC purposes, a person's net worth may include assets held jointly with their spouse. Unlike the definitions used in the financial and banking trade, the SEC's definition of HNWI includes the value of a person's verifiable non-financial assets, such as a primary residence or art collection.[16]
The World Wealth Report was co-published by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, previously known as Cap Gemini Ernst & Young who worked together since 1993, investigating the "needs of high-net-worth individuals" to "successfully serve this market segment". Their first annual World Wealth Report was published in 1996.[17] The World Wealth Report defines HNWIs as those who hold at least US$1 million in assets excluding primary residence and UHNWIs as those who hold at least US$30 million in assets excluding primary residence.[18]
The report states that in 2008 there were 8.6 million HNWIs worldwide, a decline of 14.9% from 2007. The total HNWI wealth worldwide totaled US$32.8 trillion, a 19.5% decrease from 2007. The UHNWIs experienced the greater loss, losing 24.6% in population and 23.9% in accumulated wealth. The report revised its 2007 projections that HNWI financial wealth would reach US$59.1 trillion by 2012 and revised this downward to a 2013 HNWI wealth valued at $48.5 trillion advancing at an annual rate of 8.1%.[19] The "World Ultra Wealth Report", on UHNW populations—those with "$30m or more in net worth"—which was published on June 27, 2017, "this year revealed global growth of 3.5% to 226,450 individuals and a 1.5% increase of their total combined wealth to $27 trillion."
The 2018 World Wealth Report[20] was jointly produced by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management and included, for the first time, the Global HNW Insights Survey produced in collaboration with Scorpio Partnership.[21] The inaugural survey represented one of the largest and most in-depth surveys of HNWIs ever conducted, surveying more than 4,400 across 21 major wealth markets in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa.
| Region | HNWI population | HNWI wealth | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global | 20.8 million | $80 trillion | ||
| 7 million | $24.3 trillion | |||
| 6.9 million | $24 trillion | |||
| 5.4 million | $17.5 trillion | |||
| 0.8 million | $3.2 trillion | |||
| 0.6 million | $9 trillion | |||
| 0.2 million | $1.8 trillion |
The World Wealth Report has estimated the number and combined investable wealth of high-net-worth individuals as follows (using the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation Calculator):[22]
| Year | Number of HNWIs (millions) | Total wealth of HNWIs (trillions USD) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominal | In Jan 1996 $ | |||
| 1996[23] | 4.5 | 16.6 | 16.6 | |
| 1997 | 5.2 | 19.1 | 18.54 | |
| 1998 | 5.9 | 21.6 | 20.6 | |
| 1999 | 7.0 | 25.5 | 24.0 | |
| 2000 | 7.2 | 27.0 | 24.7 | |
| 2001 | 7.1 | 26.2 | 23.1 | |
| 2002 | 7.3 | 26.7 | 23.3 | |
| 2003 | 7.7 | 28.5 | 24.2 | |
| 2004 | 8.2 | 30.7 | 25.6 | |
| 2005 | 8.7 | 33.3 | 27.0 | |
| 2006[24] | 9.5 | 37.2 | 29.0 | |
| 2007[25] | 10.1 | 40.7 | 31.1 | |
| 2008 | 8.6 | 32.8 | 24.0 | |
| 2009 | 10.0 | 39.0 | 28.5 | |
| 2010 | 10.9 | 42.7 | 30.4 | |
| 2011[26] | 11.0 | 42.0 | 29.5 | |
| 2012 | 12.0 | 46.2 | 31.5 | |
| 2013 | 13.7 | 52.6 | 35.3 | |
| 2014 | 14.7 | 56.4 | 37.2 | |
| 2015 | 15.4 | 58.7 | 38.8 | |
| 2016 | 16.5 | 63.5 | 41.4 | |
| 2017 | 18.1 | 70.2 | 44.6 | |
| 2018 | 18.0 | 68.1 | 42.4 | |
| 2019 | 19.6 | 74.0 | 45.4 | |
Certain products cater to the wealthy, whose conspicuous consumption of luxury goods and services includes, for example: mansions, yachts, first-class airline tickets and private jets, and personal umbrella insurance.[27] As economic growth has made historically expensive items affordable for the middle-class, purchases have trended towards intangible products such as education. In the United States, concierge medicine is an emerging trend as of 2017.[28]
See main article: Private banking and Wealth management.
Most global banks, such as Santander, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citibank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, and UBS, have a separate business unit with designated teams consisting of client advisors and product specialists exclusively for UHNWI. These clients are often considered to have characteristics similar to institutional investors because the vast majority of their net worth and current income is derived from passive sources rather than labor.
By 2006, asset managers working for HNW individuals invested more than £300 billion on behalf of their clients. These wealth managers are bankers who in 2006, earned multimillion-pound salaries and owned their own companies and equity funds.[29] In 2006, a list of the 50 top investment bankers was published by the Spear's Wealth Management Survey.
Certain magazines, such as Monocle,[30] Robb Report,[31] and Worth, are designed for a high net worth audience.
See main article: Offshore bank.
By 2012, according to Reuters, the UHNW individuals held $32 trillion in offshore havens, representing $280 billion in lost income tax revenues.[32]
Brands in various sectors, such as Bentley, Maybach, and Rolls-Royce actively target UHNWI and HNWI to sell their products. In 2006, Rolls-Royce researchers suggested there were 80,000 people in ultra-high-net-worth category around the world. UHNW individuals "have, on average, eight cars and three or four homes. Three-quarters own a jet aircraft and most have a yacht."[33]
, New York is the wealthiest city in the world with 340,000 HNWIs according to the World's Wealthiest Cities Report 2023 by Henley & Partners:[34]
| Rank | City | Number of millionaires (2022) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 340,000 | ||
| 2 | 290,300 | ||
| 3 | 285,000 | ||
| 4 | 258,000 | ||
| 5 | 240,100 | ||
| 6 | 205,400 | ||
| 7 | 129,500 | ||
| 8 | 128,200 | ||
| 9 | 127,200 | ||
| 10 | 126,900 |
The following list is a list of the cities with the most $US millionaires as of December 2018 per the 2019 World Ultra Wealth Report published by Wealth-X:[35]
| Rank | City | Number of millionaires (2018) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  New York City | 978,810 | |
| 2 |  Tokyo | 593,025 | |
| 3 | Los Angeles | 576,255 | |
| 4 |  Hong Kong | 391,595 | |
| 5 |  London | 372,270 | |
| 6 | Chicago | 353,775 | |
| 7 |  Paris | 345,175 | |
| 8 | San Francisco | 314,055 | |
| 9 | Washington, D.C. | 301,495 | |
| 10 |  Rome | 298,220 |
There are three different sources compiling these statistics for cities: the most recent data is from Altrata, which found that the four cities with the highest number of ultra-high net worth individuals, as of 2023, were New York City (16,630), Hong Kong (12,546), Los Angeles (8,955), and Tokyo (6,445).[36] Below are previous rankings from Wealth-X and the Knight Frank Wealth Report:
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The World Ultra Wealth Report 2013 was co-published by Wealth-X and UBS. The fifth edition of the report was published on June 27, 2017.[11] Previous World Ultra Wealth Reports were published independently by Wealth-X, in 2011 and 2012 respectively:
| Net worth tier US$ millions | 2013 | 2012 | 2012–2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numbers of UHNWs | Total wealth US$ billions | Numbers of UHNWs | Total wealth US$ billions | Increase in numbers of UHNWs | Increase in Total wealth | ||
| $1000+ | 2,170 | 6,516 | 2,160 | 6,190 | 0.5% | 5.3% | |
| $750 to $999 | 1,080 | 929 | 990 | 855 | 9.1% | 8.7% | |
| $500 to $749 | 2,660 | 1,695 | 2,475 | 1,560 | 7.5% | 8.7% | |
| $250 to $499 | 8,695 | 3,420 | 8,090 | 3,225 | 7.5% | 6.0% | |
| $200 to $249 | 14,185 | 3,205 | 13,500 | 3,035 | 5.1% | 5.6% | |
| $100 to $199 | 23,835 | 3,780 | 22,290 | 3,335 | 6.9% | 13.3% | |
| $50 to $99 | 60,760 | 4,720 | 56,205 | 4,295 | 8.1% | 9.9% | |
| $30 to $49 | 85,850 | 3,505 | 81,670 | 3,280 | 5.1% | 6.9% | |
| Total | 199,235 | 27,770 | 187,380 | 25,775 | 6.3% | 7.7% | |
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 2014 Global Wealth Report,[40] shows that liquid wealth of the super-rich, referenced as Ultra-High-Net-Worth households, had increased by 20% in 2013. BCG uses a household definition of UHNW, which places only those with more than $100 million liquid financial wealth into the UHNW-category, more than the usual $30 million, with which the ultra-category had been created in 2007. They control 5.5% of global financial wealth. 5,000 of them live in the US, followed by China, Britain and Germany. BCG expects the trend toward more concentrated wealth to continue unabated. While financial wealth of the sub-millionaires is expected to increase by 3.7% annually until 2019, the expected growth rate for the super-rich is 9.1%.[41]
By 2013, 65% of the world's UHNW population was self-made, as opposed to 19% who had inherited their fortune and 16% who had inherited and grown their wealth. These proportions change dramatically by gender. In the 2013 report, it was revealed that only 12% of the world's UHNW population is female, and of these, only 33% are self-made, as opposed to 70% of male UHNW.[42] According to the same 2013 report, twenty-two percent of self-made UHNW individuals have derived their wealth from finance, banking and investment. Almost 15% of individuals with inherited wealth are engaged in non-profit and social organisations.[43] As of 2014, Asia's growth was expected to continue,[44] and this change in demographics has significant impact on the various organizations that target UHNW individuals, such as luxury companies, financial institutions, charities and universities.
The following is a list of the countries with the most Ultra high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) as of 2023 as per the 2024 Knight Frank's Wealth Report:[45]
| Rank | Country | Number of UHNWIs (2023) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 225,077 | |
| 2 |  China | 98,551 | |
| 3 |  Germany | 29,021 | |
| 4 |  Canada | 27,928 | |
| 5 | France | 24,941 | |
| 6 | UK | 23,072 | |
| 7 | Japan | 21,710 | |
| 8 | Italy | 15,952 | |
| 9 |  Australia | 15,347 | |
| 10 |  Switzerland | 14,734 | |
| 11 |  India | 13,263 | |
| 12 |  Spain | 10,149 | |
| 13 |  Netherlands | 8,390 | |
| 14 | Taiwan | 7,640 | |
| 15 | South Korea | 7,310 |
The Billionaire Census is a co-publication of Wealth-X and UBS. In 2013 for example, the average net worth of the world's billionaire is US$3 billion, with a liquidity on average of 18% of net worth.[46] 60% of the world's billionaires are self-made, 20% have inherited their fortune and 20% have both inherited and grown their wealth. 18% of the world's billionaires have derived their wealth from finance, banking and investment; as opposed to 9% from industrial conglomerates and 7% from the real estate industry. The average billionaire is 62 years old, and 89% of the world's billionaires are male. Approximately 68% of them have a bachelor's degree or higher levels of education.
UHNWIs are notable players in the field of philanthropy; many have their own private foundations and support a variety of causes, from education to poverty relief. Financial institutions are known for their targeting of UHNWIs, having specific parts of their bank designed to manage the wealth of their UHNW clients.[4] In addition, research on the UHNW is particularly important with upcoming intergenerational wealth transfers in the UHNW population.[47] For example, as of 2014, luxury companies typically target UHNW as a separate segment of their clientele. Daily Finance in 2014, projected that growth in Asia's UHNW population looked promising for the future of the luxury industry.[48]
The India's Economic Times said in 2014 that, despite the luxury industry's troubled year with China's luxury spenders, luxury industry experts continued to be optimistic for their long-term performance, especially from UHNWIs.[49] According to Savills and Wealth-X, in 2014, UHNWIs are particularly relevant to the real estate sector, with the total UHNW population's real estate holdings accounting for over US$5 trillion by 2014, or 3% of the world's real estate holdings. This is a huge proportion considering this population is only 0.003% of the world's population.[50]
The following table shows the countries with the highest net inflows of HNWIs in 2024 according to the annual Henley & Partners Wealth Migration Report (figures have been rounded to the nearest 100):[51]
| Rank | Country | No. of Inflow HNWIs (2024) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +6,700 | ||
| 2 | +3,800 | ||
| 3 | +3,500 | ||
| 4 | +3,200 | ||
| 5 | +2,500 |