HONG KONG — Booming Asia had more millionaires than Europe for the first time last year and is fast closing in on North America for the top spot, a report released Thursday said.
The Asia-Pacific region was home to 3.3 million people in 2010 worth $1 million or more, excluding their homes, a jump of about 10 percent from the year before, according to the annual World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch’s wealth-management division and consultancy Capgemini.
Asia’s growth outpaced Europe, where high- net-worth people rose 6 percent to 3.1 million, and puts it within reach of North America, where the wealthy rose 8.6 percent to 3.4 million.
The report’s findings illustrate how Asia’s economies are growing much more quickly than developed countries — and minting scores of new millionaires and billionaires.
“It is entirely conceivable that Asia would overtake North America in the near future,” said Wilson So, a managing director at Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management. The Associated Press
