Global Wealth Report 2018: Switzerland ranks first

Aggregate global wealth rose 4.6 per cent to $317 trillion in the 12 months from mid-2017 to mid-2018, outpacing population growth, according to Credit Suisse Research Institute’s 2018 Global Wealth Report released on Thursday.

Wealth per adult grew by 3.2 per cent, raising global mean wealth to a record $63,100 per adult.

The US was the biggest contributor to global wealth as it added $6.3 trillion, continuing its winning streak of yearly growth in total wealth, and wealth per adult since 2008. Its total wealth now stands at US$98 trillion.

Meanwhile, China has the second-largest household wealth after adding $2.3 trillion to reach $52 trillion. The country’s wealth is projected to grow another $23 trillion in the next five years to comprise 19 per cent of global wealth by 2023.

Non-financial assets were the main growth drivers in all regions except North America, and accounted for 75 per cent of wealth growth in China and Europe, and 100 per cent in India.

“The United States and China are the obvious outperformers and drivers of wealth growth, despite rising trade tensions,” noted John Woods, Credit Suisse’s chief investment officer for Asia-Pacific.

He added that asset price and exchange rate fluctuations had the heaviest impact in Latin America and parts of Asia-Pacific, contributing to much of the year-on-year variation in wealth levels. Currency depreciation against the US dollar also affected wealth trends in some of the major regional economies such as Australia and India.

Asia-Pacific (including China and India) emerged on top as the largest wealth region, as household wealth grew 3 per cent to more than US$114 trillion.

Switzerland remains the richest nation in the world with its wealth per adult of $530,240, followed by Australia with $411,060. Singapore ranks ninth among major economies, with wealth per adult rising 5.3 per cent to more than US$283,000.

Financial assets make up 56% of gross wealth in Switzerland, which is more than in the UK, but less than in some other well-off countries like Japan or the US. However, the Swiss have one of the highest absolute debt levels in the world at $138,810 per adult. Switzerland is also a leader among the richest countries when it comes to wealth inequality.

“Among the ten countries with long series of wealth distribution, Switzerland is alone in having seen no significant reduction in wealth inequality over any subperiod of the past century,” said the report.

This year’s report includes themes such as the global wealth outlook for women, and the narrowing wealth gap between the top two tiers of the global wealth pyramid and the bottom two tiers. In its overall wealth outlook, Credit Suisse projects global wealth to rise by nearly 4.7 per cent per annum over the next five years to $399 trillion by 2023.