Adults in the UAE and Qatar have the highest average wealth at more than $150,000 in the Middle East and North Africa as the region expects to have 460,000 millionaires by 2021.
While wealth per adult in Mena increased by 67 per cent, Qatar recorded the region's highest average wealth per adult of $161,700 in mid-2016, and the UAE followed closely with $151,100 against the global average wealth per adult of $52,800, according to the seventh annual Global Wealth Report released on Tuesday by the Credit Suisse Research Institute (CSRI).
Switzerland once again ranked as the global leader in terms of average wealth per adult in 2016. The total global wealth in 2016 edged upwards by $3.5 trillion to a total of $256 trillion (or 1.4 per cent).
Mena witnessed a phenomenal boom of 330 per cent in its millionaire population since 2000, with household wealth reaching an estimated $3.7 trillion in mid-2016. Total Mena wealth has grown by 162 per cent since 2000, well above the global average of 119 per cent.
Both Qatar and the UAE, however, saw a small drop of 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively in average adult wealth from mid last year, which analysts believe was due to lower oil revenues.
Kuwait, placed third in the region with an average wealth per adult of $119,000, grew by 0.2 per cent since last year. The average wealth per adult in Bahrain fell by 1.1 per cent from mid last year to $50,600. Average wealth per adult in Saudi Arabia also fell by -0.6 per cent, touching $40,600 while Egypt's wealth per adult saw a massive drop of 13 per cent, touching $6,300.
However, in terms of total wealth, Saudi Arabia ranked first with an estimated wealth of $725 billion, followed by the UAE with an estimated wealth of $597 billion. Egypt's total wealth declined to $351 billion this year, having peaked at $511 billion in 2010.
Qatar and Kuwait's total wealth is estimated to be $210 billion and $288 billion respectively. Bahrain's net household wealth is estimated at $31 billion. In the next five years, household net wealth in the Mena region is expected to increase by a further 53 per cent, or nearly nine per cent annually.
According to the CSRI, the UK suffered a significant drop in wealth in 2016, with $1.5 trillion being wiped off household wealth in response to the Brexit vote.
Michael O'Sullivan, chief investment officer of international wealth management at Credit Suisse, said the impact of the Brexit vote is widely thought of in terms of gross domestic product, but the impact on household wealth bears watching. "Since the Brexit vote, the UK household wealth has fallen by $1.5 trillion. Wealth per adult has already dropped by $33,000 to $289,000 since the end of June. In fact, in US dollar terms, 406,000 people in the UK are no longer millionaires."
The report also highlights the impact of adverse currency movements, which caused wealth to fall in every region except Asia-Pacific. The highest rise in wealth among individual countries was achieved by Japan with a total increase of $3.9 trillion, followed by a $1.7 trillion rise in the US.
The report said globally the growth in wealth has fallen. It estimates that total global wealth will reach $334 trillion by 2021.
Developing economies are likely to outpace the developed world in terms of wealth growth. However, they will account for just under one-third of growth over the next five years. At present, they account for around 18 per cent of global household wealth.
China is expected to contribute more than half of the forecast growth in emerging economies, while more than seven per cent will come from India.
By Isaac John
