NEW YORK — Want to be a millionaire? Move to India.
The number of millionaires in the country rose 26 percent last year, the biggest percentage gain among major countries in a report out Wednesday showing the ranks of millionaires around the world at a record. The total number of Indian millionaires — 198,000 — is relatively small, but it’s fast closing in on Italy. That country had 219,000 millionaires last year.
The number of people worth $1 million or more around the world rose by 920,000 to a record 14.6 million last year, according to an annual tally from consultant Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management. It was the sixth straight year-over-year increase as rising stock prices lifted the value of personal wealth in a few key countries.
More than a third of new millionaires — 345,000 — were in the U.S., where a broad index of stocks, the Standard and Poor’s 500, rose 11 percent.
Among other highlights of the report:
• The wealth held by millionaires globally rose to a record — $56 trillion.
• The wealthiest millionaires — those worth is $30 million or more — represented only 1 percent of total millionaires but held 35 percent of the wealth.
• It got harder to become a millionaire as many stock markets in Europe and Latin America barely rose or even fell.
• The U.S. is home to 4.4 million millionaires, the most in the world. Japan ranks second, with 2.5 million, followed by Germany, with 1.1 million. China, the world’s second-biggest economy, ranks fourth. It has 890,000 millionaires.
