878,000 New US Millionaires Have Been Created in the Last 12 Months Alone
Continued economic growth in the U.S. has translated into increased personal wealth for a wide range of Americans, according to new research.
As the Washington Examiner reported Wednesday, analysts indicates about 878,000 Americans became millionaires over the past year.
The data was compiled in the Global Wealth Report compiled by Credit Suisse, which saw an international increase of about 2.3 million newly minted millionaires.
In addition to household income gains across much of the U.S., Credit Suisse cited massive gains in China, the country that is “clearly established in second place in the world wealth hierarchy” — and rising fast.
The report paints a generally positive economic picture for the U.S., citing a 6.5 percent growth rate for the nation’s wealth compared to a global average of about 4.6 percent.
“Looking at the number of millionaires, we see that there are 42.2 million millionaires worldwide, which is up 2.3 million over the previous 12 months,” the researchers wrote. “Our research indicates that the United States added 878,000 new millionaires – representing around 40 percent of the global increase – to its already sizable stock.”
Credit Suisse also pointed to “seemingly relentless rise in household wealth” that extended far beyond the creation of new millionaires.
“Total wealth and wealth per adult in the United States have grown every year since 2008, even when total global wealth suffered a reversal in 2014 and 2015,” the report stated. “The United States has accounted for 40 percent of all increments to world wealth since 2008, and 58 percent of the rise since 2013.”
Researchers noted that they did not want “to cast doubt on the ‘Trump Effect’ on financial markets,” but wrote that it “seems inevitable that the uninterrupted spell of increasing wealth in the United States will come to an end at some time.”
Despite that forecast, the bank found “signs that wealth inequality is no longer rising, which should mitigate the impact of any setback on the middle classes.”
Though the U.S. “has the most members of the top 1 percent global wealth group, and currently accounts for 41 percent of the world’s millionaires,” the report identified a rapidly gaining competitor.
“While the United States is still far ahead in terms of total household wealth and the number of citizens in the top wealth categories, China has advanced so rapidly this century that a wealth gap that once appeared unassailable could vanish within a generation,” the researchers wrote.
The report found that it is China, “rather than the United States or Japan, to which much of the developing world looks for a model, inspiration, and often assistance, in wealth creation.”
Since the turn of the century, national wealth in China has risen from $3.7 trillion to $51.9 trillion, Credit Suisse found.
“This is double the rate of any other nation and three times the rate of most,” the report stated.
Despite a setback during the global recession of a decade ago, the bank reported that China’s “wealth growth soon resumed and, unlike most other economies, came close to matching the pre-crisis pace, at least until 2014.”
Though trade and debt concerns “are causing some uncertainty,” the report concluded that “signs for the coming years are otherwise fairly positive” for China.
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