The number of very rich people surged in 2019

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New York City boasts the largest population with a net worth of between US$5 million and US$30 million. Getty Images

The number of very-high-net-worth (VHNW) individuals—those with a net worth of between US$5 million and US$30 million—increased 10% to 2.7 million last year, following a muted growth of just 1% in 2018, according to the report.

An important driver of the global wealth growth was “the reorientation of policy by major central banks toward monetary stimulus, which delivered a boost to investor sentiment and world equity markets,” the report said.

Asia now has 723,790 individuals with a net worth of between US$5 million and US$30 million, surpassing Europe’s 678,370, which represented a 5.5% increase from 2018, according to the report.

Reflecting the overall global picture, all top 10 countries saw a rise in both their VHNW populations and combined wealth in 2019. The U.S. VHNW population stood at 969,075, considerably higher than the runner up, China’s 259,830.

Japan, Germany, and France took the third to fifth spots on the top 10 countries with the most VHNW population. In France, the VHNW population saw a 10.2% increase, in contrast with the low-single-digit growth in Germany, the U.K., and Italy./.