North America leads the growth of the wealthy and is home to 40% of the world's millionaires

In 2024, the global wealth of individuals (not only financial but including real estate, land and passion assets) grew by 4.6 %, following a 4.2 % increase in 2023, continuing a steady upward trend. Growth was uneven but concentrated in North America, with the Americas accounting for most of the increase overall, at over 11%, thanks to a stable dollar and strong financial markets. Asia Pacific (APAC) and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) lagged behind, with growth rates of less than 3% and 0.5% respectively. Italy ranks 14th, falling one position behind 2023 with USD 124,473 in average wealth per individual. Among the targets are the "Everyday Millionaires", individuals with investible assets worth between USD 1 and 5 million. The number of these individuals has more than quadrupled since 2000, reaching around 52 million globally at the end of last year. These are some of the key findings of the 16th edition of the Ubs Global Wealth Report.

In North America in 2024, adults recorded the highest average wealth levels ($593,347), followed by Oceania ($496,696) and Western Europe ($287,688). Eastern Europe, on the other hand, stood out for the fastest growth in average wealth per adult, with an increase of more than 12%. But in real terms and measured in dollars, more than half of the 56 markets analysed did not participate in overall growth and experienced a decline in average wealth per capita. Switzerland continued to lead the average per capita wealth ranking at the individual market level, followed by the United States (US), Hong Kong SAR and Luxembourg. Denmark, South Korea, Sweden, Ireland, Poland and Croatia recorded the largest increases in average wealth, all with double-digit growth rates (measured in local currencies).

In our country, average wealth per adult grew over 2024 and measured in local currency increased by 3.81% net of inflation. Median wealth, measured in the same terms, has even risen by almost 15%, ranking sixth among the 56 countries analysed. The trend over the last five years, however, is less favourable: since the beginning of the decade, average wealth has fallen by more than 9% and median wealth has risen by only 4.7%. The gap between average and median values suggests that the middle wealth brackets have benefited from much faster wealth growth than the top brackets.

Financial assets account for just under 46% of total gross assets, a value on a par with Germany. Non-financial values (real estate and land) account for just under 62%, while debts amount to 7.6%, an extremely low value in international comparison. Subtracting debts from the sum of gross financial and non-financial values gives net personal assets.

Italy ranks 23rd out of 56 countries in average wealth per adult measured in dollars, after Spain and ahead of Japan, but ranks 14th in median wealth, ahead of the United States and Singapore.