The world added nearly a million new millionaires in 2025 — but most people got poorer

I'd like to thank the Academy for this honor. I know that some people can barely afford a yacht or private jet...I wake of every morning feeling incredibly blessed.

The world added nearly a million new millionaires in 2025 — but most people got poorer

Global personal wealth rose 10.8% last year, the fastest pace in years, yet median wealth fell in most markets

By Cris Tolomia, Quartz

Published 20 hours ago

Global personal wealth grew by 10.8% in 2025, the fastest rate in at least three years, with nearly one million new U.S. dollar millionaires created over the course of the year, according to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2026. Despite the headline growth, median wealth — a measure that better reflects typical households rather than the wealthiest — declined in most countries tracked by the bank.

UBS built its findings from data spanning 56 markets that together account for an estimated 92% or more of all global wealth, and found that the millionaire population grew by 1.5% — adding close to one million people to that group, at a pace of roughly 2,680 per day. More than 440,000 of those new millionaires were American — a pace exceeding 1,200 per day — making the U.S. responsible for close to half of the worldwide increase. The United Kingdom added more than 43,000 new millionaires, while France, Spain, Japan, and India each added more than 30,000.

Not a single market in UBS's sample ended 2025 with fewer millionaires than it started with. The highest percentage growth rates were in Eastern Europe, led by Lithuania at 8%, followed by Turkey, Latvia, and Hungary, all above 5%. The world's total millionaire population now stands at roughly 57.5 million, with more than 23.6 million — over 40% — living in the U.S.

Europe and the Middle East saw the strongest regional wealth growth, at nearly 18%, with Eastern Europe surging 28%. The Americas grew 8.5% and Asia-Pacific grew about 5.9%. UBS noted that the weakness of the U.S. dollar against major currencies, including a nearly 9% rise in the euro, significantly inflated wealth figures measured in dollars for non-U.S. markets.

Those gains, however, did not reach most households. UBS reported that median wealth — a figure more representative of typical adults than the mean — dropped across the majority of countries it tracked, even as averages climbed, a pattern the bank described as evidence of widening inequality. The global wealth pyramid is also shifting: the share of adults with less than $10,000 in net assets has continued to shrink, now standing at just over 41%, while more people have moved into higher wealth brackets. Still, 1.5% of adults in the sample own more than $1 million, while that bottom band — those with under $10,000 — remains the largest single group.

The report also counted 3,302 U.S. dollar billionaires, an increase of 383 people, or about 13.1%, over the prior year.