HONG KONG — Asia’s millionaires outnumbered North America’s for the first time last year, even as the world’s wealthy saw their fortunes decline amid turbulent financial markets, a new survey says.
The Asia-Pacific region was home to 3.37 million high-net-worth individuals, who are defined as having at least $1 million to invest, according to the report by Capgemini and Royal Bank of Canada, released Tuesday.
North Americans still held the biggest share of world wealth at $11.4 trillion, though it was down 2.3 percent. Europe came third with 3.17 millionaires worth $10.1 trillion.
Overall, the combined wealth of the world’s 11 million rich declined 1.7 percent in 2011 to $42 trillion.