World is home to more than 10 million millionaires

[musicblind]

Source: CNN.com

The number of people around the world with at least $1 million in assets passed 10 million for the first time last year, according to a report. And their bank accounts are growing even faster.

The United States still reigns supreme when it comes to fat wallets, though: One in every three millionaires in the world lives in America. Combined, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America account for one in 10.

The rarefied group of the superrich -- those with at least $30 million in assets -- got richer, too. There were 103,000 of them around the world last year, 9 percent more than the year before, and their wealth grew by nearly 15 percent.

$1 million isn't what it used to be. One million dollars in 1996, the first year the report was issued, would have been worth about $1.3 million last year, Van Der Linde said.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/24/world.wealth.ap/index.html

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I wonder how many of the 103,000 "superrich" live in America? I also wonder how many Billionaires their are in the world. Interesting story. A link below this story on cnn.com states that a mother had decided to give her 11 year old son up to an orphanage because they were too poor and supporting him was too much of a financial burden. :(

[Quantess]

1. A million dollars really isn't all that much, anymore.

I mean, it would be for me, but making a million dollars a year just means you're upper middle class.

[Spouting Horn]

2. Making a million dollars per year

and having a net worth of a million dollars are two entirely different things.

Edit: grammar

[Quantess]

3. True. Both are common, though.

[BigDaddy44]

13. Baloney

How many people do you think make more than $1M per year? Its far from common.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. The story was about assets not income.

Income of 1,000,000/year would put into the lower ranks of the rich. Assets of 1,000,000, most of which would be the house you are living in, just makes you middle class and one disaster away from being poor.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. It does say "Home values were not included in asset totals"

though I wonder if that's a good basis for comparison - while a house may not be immediately saleable, it's still quite possible for someone to decide to put all their cash into a house, and they haven't just lost it - there's every reason to believe it will keep its value over the long term.

[rug]

15. Yeah, and truffles aren't as good as they used to be.

[electron_blue]

18. oh please. Making a million dollars a year makes you rich.

[SpiralHawk]

4. "I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight. Smirk." - republicon cronies

[pipoman]

5. The US population is

older. The older the population the more millionaires there will be. Many of the baby boomers bought and paid off their homes and accumulated other assets which have appreciated. It is important to note that there are several areas of the US which has average single family home values in the million dollar neighborhood, the same homes which would have cost 300k in the 1980's.

[dysfunctional press]

14. home values were not included as assets, according to the article.

i wonder what the number would be if they were.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. Because 1.000.000 in assets doesn't mean very much.

It is certainly better than not having 1,000,000 in assets, but it actually does not make you rich.

[electron_blue]

19. I beg to differ. Depends on where you live. Having a milion in assets could make you

rich in many many places in this world, and even in this country. Just not in expensive cities.

[whistle]

8. I wonder what the average asset value is for all 10 million millionaires?

...Also the range of asset values and the quartiles? Finally, how much of the total world's assets do these ten million own?

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. "average wealth was more than $4 million" (nt)

[whistle]

16. That is a net worth of $40 trillion

[raccoon]

11. World is home to maybe 99.5% NON-millionaires.

Why doesn't THAT make the news?

[whistle]

17. Actually closer to 99.94% non-millionaire

...10,000,000 / 6,300,000,000 = .0015873816 or 0.16% of world's population are millionaires or richer

[melm00se]

12. billionaire #'s

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/forbes/P146582.asp
http://english.hanban.edu.cn/english/news/237662.htm
http://byzas.net/luxury_star/?p=344

if you want a snapshot of who/what makes up a millionaire, the book The Millionaire Next Door is a must read.

From Amazon, you can read the 1st chapter and it contains an interesting profile (this book is from 1996, so while no longer 100% accurate is probably not too far off): http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0671015206/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link