While the US still ranks as the world’s most prosperous country, with 31 million affluent households, the study reveals that the emerging economies of India and China have overtaken many European countries in this measure of consumer wealth.
Based on interviews with 12,000 people across 24 markets including China, Brazil and India, TNS’s Global Affluent Investor study shows that the growth of developing economic powerhouses is already starting to impact personal fortunes, among households with more than US$100,000 investable assets.
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It also shows that emerging markets now rival their developed counterparts in terms of the amount that people have to invest. UAE and India appear in the top five countries where the affluent have more than US$1 million investable assets on average, alongside Singapore and Hong Kong.
The only Europeans to feature in this top five are the Swedish, whilst the UK and France are the least likely in Europe to have these levels of investable assets.
According to the study, while incidence of affluence would naturally be higher in small, wealthy countries like Luxemburg (29%) and Singapore (20%), there are huge contrasts in markets with large populations; while 27% of the US are affluent this falls to around 1% in India and China.
Reg van Steen, director Business and Finance at TNS, comments: "When examining global incidence of affluence, it’s not only size that matters. We wanted to identify the growth potential of each market – and our research confirms that emerging markets will become new centers of affluence in coming years. India and China have already surpassed major European markets like Germany and France. It’s interesting to see that the entrepreneurial spirit of people in these markets is already paying off in terms of personal wealth."
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By GlobalData
Fundamental social shifts are unearthed when examining the demographics of the world’s affluent. While they average 57 years old in North America and Northern Europe, this falls to the early 40s in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. While men are the primary decision makers among affluent households in India (80% men) and Central Europe (79%), the balance is spread far more evenly in North America (45% men).
Reg van Steen added: "We detected big differences between markets, even when they border each other geographically: only 5% of Norwegians invest in bonds, compared to 31% of the Swedes. And while the popularity of commodities fluctuates at a global level, they are very popular among India’s affluent. These are the insights that make all the difference when trying to engage the wealthy with a specific product or service."
