Asia Pacific millionaires are set to become the world's richest this year, a report said on Wednesday, driven largely by wealthy individuals in India and China. The combined wealth of Asia Pacific's super rich will surpass its 2014 total of $15.8 trillion and overtake that of their North American counterparts -- currently the world's richest group with a shared wealth of $16.2 trillion last year, the study said.
The research by computer services consultancy Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management said the Asia Pacific region already had the largest number of high net worth individuals, with 4.69 million in 2014 against 4.68 million in North America.
HNWIs are those with investible money of at least $1.0 million apart from the value of their homes and other collectibles. “looking further ahead, HNWI wealth is expected to expand more in Asia Pacific than in any other region of the world with much of the new wealth expected to come from the emerging economies of China, India, Indonesia and Thailand,” the firms' Asia-Pacific Wealth Report 2015 said.