Nine out of every 100 HK people have more than HK$7.8 mn net worth

Hong Kong's economy is gradually recovering post-pandemic, and the wealth of affluent individuals is also rebounding.

According to the latest data from the UBS Global Wealth Report 2024, Hong Kong's per capita wealth in 2023 was approximately HK$582,000, a 5.5% increase from 2022, maintaining its global third-place ranking. Notably, the median wealth per capita in Hong Kong in 2023 was HK$206,800, a slight increase of 2.2% year-on-year. The increase in per capita wealth outpaced the median wealth growth, indicating that the wealth of high-income individuals is growing faster than that of lower-income individuals.

UBS reports that in 2023, approximately 629,100 individuals in Hong Kong belonged to the millionaire wealth category. Based on UBS figures, with Hong Kong's population at 7.22 million at the end of last year, nearly 9 out of every 100 residents possessed wealth of US$1 million (about HK$7.8 million) or more.

UBS also estimates that by 2028, the number of individuals in this wealth category will increase to 737,700, a 17% rise from 2023. However, in its 2022 Global Wealth Report, UBS projected that by 2027, the number of millionaires in Hong Kong would reach 1.091 million. As for mainland China, UBS data shows that the number of millionaires there reached 6.0132 million in 2023. It is expected to grow to 6.5056 million by 2028, an 8% increase, making it the country with the second-largest number of affluent individuals globally.

Paul Donovan, Chief Economist of UBS Global Wealth Management, believes that 60% of individuals globally with less than US$10,000 in wealth can move out of this bracket.

The UBS report indicates that between 2000 and 2023, the proportion of adults worldwide with less than US$10,000 in wealth nearly halved. Most of these individuals successfully climbed the wealth ladder, reaching the US$10,000 to US$100,000 bracket, which saw an increase of more than double.