Taiwan Credit Suisse P55. 2016 Taiwan.
Asian tiger
Taiwan’s average level of wealth, at USD 172,800, is well above that of most countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and similar to that of Western Europe. From USD 108,600 at the turn of the century, wealth per adult grew to USD 162,200 in 2010, with no drop during the global financial crisis, although currency depreciation has caused dips in several years after 2010. Over the entire 2000 – 2016 period, wealth per adult grew by 59% in USD terms, and by 95% using constant exchange rates.
Taiwan has a high saving rate and well-developed financial institutions, so it is not surprising that the composition of household wealth is skewed towards financial assets. The latter now make up 64% of total assets. Debt is relatively modest, equaling 13% of gross assets.
Compared to the world as a whole, Taiwan has high average wealth and only moderate wealth inequality. While 20% of the adult population have wealth below USD 10,000, that is not high compared to 73% worldwide. 38% percent of adults in Taiwan have wealth over USD 100,000 which is almost five times greater than the worldwide average of 8%. The large number of Taiwanese with high wealth reflects high mean wealth, rather than high wealth inequality: looking across countries, Taiwan’s wealth Gini coefficient of 74% lies in the moderate range, and is one of the lowest among emerging- market economies.
United States 2016 Credit Suisse P46
Record spell continues
The US economy and its financial markets continued to perform well in 2015 – 2016, leading to an eighth successive year of rising wealth. Average wealth was USD 206,000 in 2000, and rose fairly steadily until 2006, before falling during the global financial crisis. Wealth per adult has now fully recovered, and is 19% above the 2006 level. There is some uncertainty about future interest rates and stock market prospects, but otherwise the signs are mostly positive for household wealth.
The USA has a high proportion of assets (72%) reported as financial, partly because it includes business equity wholly as a financial asset. Adopting the more usual procedure of treating unincorporated enterprises as part of the household sector, the share would be around 64%, which is still relatively high. This reflects the fact that, compared with many other OECD countries, the USA has more economic activity in the private relative to the public sector. The USA also has more outward foreign investment. Debts of USD 56,800 per adult are not extreme by international standards.
US wealth distribution has a high fraction of adults with wealth above USD 100,000 compared to the world as a whole. The percentage of people with wealth at higher levels is even more striking. The USA has the most members of the top 1% global wealth group, and currently accounts for 41% of the world’s millionaires. The number of UHNW individuals with wealth above USD 50 million is six times that of the next country, China.