Capgemini report says global millionaire wealth and population rose in 2025
The Facts
- Capgemini reported that 25.3 million people worldwide had at least $1 million in investable assets in 2025.
- The combined wealth of those high-net-worth individuals rose 8.7% year over year to $98.3 trillion in 2025.
- The global high-net-worth population increased by about 7.9%, or nearly 2 million people, from 2024 to 2025.
- Several reports attributed the rise in millionaire wealth mainly to strong stock-market performance, including gains linked to artificial intelligence, with easing inflation also cited as a supporting factor.
- The United States had the largest number of millionaires in 2025, at about 8.7 million, and added more millionaires than any other country.
- Germany ranked third globally, with about 1.78 million high-net-worth individuals and roughly $7.1 trillion in their combined wealth.
- The report's millionaire count refers to people with at least $1 million in investable assets and excludes primary residences.
- Coverage of the report says wealth growth was led by North America and Asia-Pacific, indicating the gains were not evenly distributed across all regions.
Context
Who counts as a millionaire in this report?
Capgemini defines high-net-worth individuals as people with at least $1 million in investable assets, excluding their primary residence Ouest France,SudOuest.fr,Axios.
What drove the increase in wealth?
Multiple reports say the main driver was strong equity-market performance, especially AI-related stock gains, while easing inflation also helped in some markets Yahoo! Finance,Ouest France,SudOuest.fr.
Which countries saw the biggest concentrations of millionaires?
The United States remained the largest millionaire market at about 8.7 million people, while Japan ranked second, Germany third, and China fourth; together those four countries accounted for nearly two-thirds of the global total Main-Spitze,Kronen Zeitung,RP Online.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Strong stock-market performance, including AI-linked gains, drove a sharp rise in investable wealth among high-net-worth individuals, with gains concentrated in regions like North America and Asia-Pacific rather than spread evenly across the world.
- Where Left and Right split
- Market gains enriching people who already hold substantial financial assets, or those same gains reflecting healthy capital formation through investment returns rather than housing-driven paper wealth.
How left and right read it
What stands out is how much new wealth flowed to people who already held substantial investable assets: 25.3 million people now control $98.3 trillion, up 8.7% in a year. Because coverage ties that jump mainly to stock-market gains, including AI-linked gains, and says the gains were led by North America and Asia-Pacific, this looks less like broadly shared prosperity than another market-driven concentration of wealth.
The clearest takeaway is that wealth creation followed market performance: high-net-worth wealth rose 8.7% to $98.3 trillion, and coverage tied much of that increase to strong stock markets, including AI-linked gains. The fact that these are investable assets rather than primary residences also matters, because it points to capital formation and investment returns—not just paper appreciation in housing.
The receipts — 67 sources
Wire services (1)
Independent coverage (66)
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