Currently, Dubai possesses the highest concentration of private wealth amongst the Middle East countries. The recipe is simple: the UAE and especially Dubai continues to provide a secure economic environment that in turn attracts and motivates successful and affluent individuals, so called high-net-worth individuals (HNWI), to relocate and move in. The UAE’s appeal to HNWI has surged in the post-covid, boosted by its zero income tax and general pro-business environment, safety, world-class healthcare and schools.
According to the Centi-millionaire Report 2024 by Henley and Partners and New World Wealth, the UAE is expected to welcome a significant influx of centi-millionaires between 2024 and 2040, particularly in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. (N.B. Centi-millionaires are the ultra-wealthy people who have liquid investable assets of 100 million USD or more).
Dubai is home to 212 centi-millionaires (ranked 15th among the top 50 cities) and Abu Dhabi has 68 centi-millionaires (ranked 50th), whereas Sharjah is home to 11 centi-millionaires according to the Report 2024.
Recently, the number of centi-millionaires has grown rapidly and more than 60% of them are entrepreneurs and company founders which is especially important as they contribute to wealth creation. The businesses created by centi-millionaires have a significant positive spillover effect as they create large numbers of well-paying jobs in their home country. Moreover, most of the companies on the Fortune 500, the FTSE 100 or the Nikkei 225 were started by individuals who were to become centi-millionaires.
Presently, there are 29,350 individuals centi-millionaires worldwide, an increase by 54 per cent over the last decade with America and China experiencing a centi-millionaire boom and significantly outperforming Europe.
While New York and London remain key centres, the top 10 cities with the highest population of centi-millionaires are New York, The San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, London, Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chicago and Paris. Dubai is currently home to 72,500 millionaires, 212 centi-millionaires, and 15 billionaires.
As to the future, we can expect tech cities such as Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Austin, Taipei, Kyoto, Bengaluru, Warsaw, Tampa, Ho Chi Minh City, Scottsdale, and Salt Lake City to witness an exceptional growth of estimated 150% in their centi-millionaire populations, while cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Lugano, Marrakech and West Palm Beach will be benefiting from inward centi-millionaire migration according the Report 2024.
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