The rich get poorer for the first time since 2011

Are Switzerland's millionaires going to have to put the bubbly on ice? Keystone

After seven years of growth, both the number of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) around the world and their total wealth declined in 2018, according to the latest World Wealth ReportExternal link by consultants Capgemini. This trend was also seen in Switzerland. 

The total assets of HNWIs – defined by Capgemini as people with investable assets of at least $1 million (CHF995,000), excluding primary residence, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables – shrank by almost 3% to $68.1 trillion. 

“Losses on stock exchanges have had a particularly strong impact,” said Klaus-Georg Meyer at Capgemini. 

The downward trend was significantly evident in Asia-Pacific and Europe, while North America remained flat. Meanwhile, the Middle East region bucked the trend, with nearly 6% growth. 

Swiss millionaire club 

Around the world some 18 million people could call themselves dollar millionaires, 0.3% fewer than in 2017. “Personally, I wouldn’t worry about them though,” Meyer added. 

The Swiss dollar millionaire clubExternal link lost around 1% of its members, falling to 384,400. Switzerland’s blue-chip SMI indexExternal link lost 11% last year. 

Switzerland is thus seventh in the millionaires list behind the United States, Japan, Germany, China, France and Britain. 

It should be noted that these figures from Capgemini differ from those published three weeks ago by the Boston Consultancy Group. According to them, Switzerland’s 500,000 millionaire households put it in fourth place, behind the US, China and Japan.