Global personal wealth grew by 10.8% in US dollar terms in 2025, the fastest pace in eight years, propelling nearly one million people into the ranks of dollar millionaires, according to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2026. The total number of millionaires worldwide reached 57.5 million, an increase of 1.5% over the previous year. The acceleration more than doubled the growth rates recorded in 2024 and 2023, marking a third consecutive year of strengthening wealth creation.

The surge was powered by robust financial markets and rising non-financial assets, particularly real estate. Viewed from European financial centres, the effect was amplified by a weaker US dollar, which lifted the dollar-denominated value of euro- and other currency assets. Wealth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region jumped 17.5%, compared with 8.5% in the Americas and 5.9% in Asia-Pacific. The United States alone accounted for almost half of the new millionaires, adding over 440,000 individuals, while mainland China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and France each added tens of thousands.

The report underscores a persistent and deepening concentration of wealth. The top 1.5% of adults—those with assets above one million dollars—now hold a disproportionate share, while 42% of the global adult population possess less than $10,000. Median wealth, a measure that better reflects the experience of the typical person, declined in most countries, signalling a widening gap between the wealthiest and the general population. In Italy, for example, the median wealth per adult of $131,001 ranks 11th globally, well above its average wealth ranking, indicating a comparatively less skewed distribution than in other large European economies. In Spain, 1.07 million millionaires concentrate a third of the country’s total personal wealth, while 7.9 million adults live with less than $10,000 in savings.

National wealth structures vary sharply. In Israel, financial assets account for 82.1% of personal wealth, the second-highest share among surveyed markets, while debt represents 14%, pointing to significant leverage. Spanish households, by contrast, hold roughly a third of their wealth in financial assets, with low debt levels and a heavy reliance on property. At the very top, the number of billionaires globally rose by 13.1% to 3,302, with more than 1,000 residing in the United States, 562 in mainland China and 211 in India. Russia counts 122 billionaires. The next edition of the annual report will test whether this pace of wealth accumulation can be maintained as monetary conditions shift.