This was the second largest increase since 2000, with HNWI wealth rising by 13.8% to hit a new high of $52.6trn (€38.6trn, £30.9trn), its latest World Wealth Report revealed.
The Asia Pacific region led the way with a 17.3% jump to 4.22m HNWIs, which narrowed the gap on North America’s 16% growth to 4.33m.
Those countries with above average growth in HNWI populations included oil-rich Norway and Kuwait, the financial centres of Hong Kong and Singapore and economic powers such as China, India, Russia and Taiwan.
Japan saw dramatic growth by a record 22.3% “propelled by Abenomics”, while by contrast Europe’s 12.5% rise to 3.83m lagged, and so did South America (3.5%) and Africa (3.7%), the report also highlighted.
Even though the Middle East experienced very healthy growth of 16%, its HNWIs remained well below 1m.
Almost 60% of the world’s HNWIs were in four countries, namely the US, Japan, Germany and China.
George Lewis, group head, RBC Wealth Management & RBC Insurance said: “Overall, 2013 was another strong year for the high net worth market, with surging equity markets and improving economies contributing to double digit growth in both population and wealth levels. Looking at longer term growth trends, nearly 40% of the current level of high net worth wealth has been created in the past five years alone.”
Looking ahead, the report forecasted HNWI wealth to reach another record of $64.3trn by 2016, representing 22% growth over 2013 and almost $12trn in new wealth.
There were responses from more than 4,500 HNWIs in 23 countries across five regions.
