Talent & Tech Asia Summit 2024
human resources online

Singapore among the world's wealthiest nations

The stable, robust growth in Singapore has ranked the nation among the top 10 in the list of countries with the highest average wealth per adult, while revealing only "moderate inequality" compared to some of the higher-ranked nations in the list.

Credit Suisse's fifth annual Global Wealth Report, which released these findings, also pointed to an overall global wealth rise of 39% over its 2008 low, despite a challenging economic environment.

The richest nations' list, defined as countries with the highest average wealth per adult in USD, is led by Switzerland, at more than half a million dollars of average wealth per adult.

Singapore has dropped three places, yet is the only country from Asia in the list, standing at 10th position. The average wealth per adult in the nation is pegged at USD 290,000, up 2% in the last year.

However, it is the median wealth per adult that is a better representative of the "average person", and here Australia takes the lead at USD 225,000. Singapore comes in seventh at USD 109,000, an increase of 6.1% over the last year.

RELATED READ: More Singaporeans are becoming millionaires

Interestingly, Singapore is now well ahead of Hong Kong in terms of personal wealth, which was ranked tenth in the world in 2000, just above Singapore. "Wealth in Hong Kong grew at an average annual rate of only 2.4% between 2000 and 2014 versus 7.2% for Singapore," the report cited.

A fairly similar difference is found in the growth rates of per capita gross domestic product (GDP): 2.6% per annum for Hong Kong versus 5.7% for Singapore.

The average debt of USD 57,100 is moderate for a high wealth country, equating to just 16% of total assets. As a result, the distribution of wealth in Singapore reveals only moderate inequality.

"Just 18% of its people have wealth below USD 10,000, versus 70% for the world as a whole. And the number with wealth above USD 100,000 is six times the global average."

The report handed out a special mention to emerging markets, that are expected to increase their share of global wealth to 21% by 2019.

China, which today has as many UNHW (Ultra High Net Worth) individuals as all of Europe had in 2001, is expected to represent nearly 10% of global wealth by 2019, against just over 8% today.

RELATED READ: Meet the richest man in China

Image: Shutterstock

Follow us on Telegram and on Instagram @humanresourcesonline for all the latest HR and manpower news from around the region!

Related topics

Related articles

Free newsletter

Get the daily lowdown on Asia's top Human Resources stories.

We break down the big and messy topics of the day so you're updated on the most important developments in Asia's Human Resources development – for free.

subscribe now open in new window