In the 14th Global Wealth Report, Swiss banking giants UBS and Credit Suisse – the latter now a subsidiary of the former – said that $11.3 trillion in personal wealth had been lost in 2022, bringing the total stock to $454 trillion worldwide -dollar reduced.

The report’s authors analyzed the estimated changes in wealth for 5.4 billion adults worldwide in 2022 and detailed the variations across different wealth levels.

According to the report, global wealth per adult fell 3.6% – or $3,198 – to end the year at $84,718.

Much of the decline was due to the appreciation of the dollar combined with turbulent financial markets, with share prices being hit The worst setbacks in the past year since the 2008 financial crisis.

As a result, 3.5 million people worldwide lost their millionaire status last year, the report says — with about half of those who lost that status being based in the United States.

It wasn’t all bad news, however.

Global median wealth — which has been described as “a more meaningful indicator of how a typical person is doing” — rose 3% in 2022.

This means that while total wealth fell, the average person was doing better at the end of the year.

The phenomenon in which the wealthiest in society suffer economically while those further down the wealth scale are less affected or better off is colloquially referred to as “…”. a “cession of empire”, and some market watchers have noticed that predict for a while.

An American “Emperorship”?

Looking at individual countries, the US suffered the highest wealth loss overall in 2022, according to the report.

The country lost $5.9 trillion of its personal wealth last year, compared to a $19.5 trillion gain a year earlier.

The report’s authors described America’s wealth loss as “the first break in a remarkable series of gains stemming from the global financial crisis.”

However, the report’s findings suggest that the losses were much more pronounced at the higher end of America’s wealth scale.

While the US economy remained robust over the past year Thanks to strong consumer spending and a resilient job market, wealthy investors have taken a big hit Stock market sell-off how employees were affected by mass layoffs.

Although nearly 1.8 million Americans lost their millionaire status in 2022, the report found that average wealth per adult increased by $14,460 to $107,740 – indicating improved financial conditions for a typical American close.

In an analysis of 20 wealthy countries included in the report, the US was one of only five countries where average wealth per adult increased over the past year.

The country’s super-rich also felt the pain of private wealth losses in the US more than those with lower net worth last year.

In 2022, the US lost 17,260 very high net worth individuals – those with net worth over $50 million – more than any other country.

Overall, America’s wealthiest people have seen their share of the nation’s wealth decline, while the bottom 50%’s share of government wealth has increased.

While America’s older generations — those born before 1946 to 1980 — saw an overall decline in wealth in 2022, millennial wealth rose more than 5% last year, the report’s figures showed.

Baby boomers — defined in the report as everyone aged 59 to 77 in 2023 — typically hold more wealth than their younger colleagues.

American wealth is falling—and the Russians are getting richer

UBS and Credit Suisse found global wealth loss was heavily concentrated in wealthier regions, with North America and Europe losing $10.9 trillion combined.

By comparison, Asia-Pacific recorded losses of US$2.1 trillion, while Latin America – helped by an average currency appreciation of 6% against the US dollar – saw private wealth rise by US$2.4 trillion.

After the USA, Japan, China, Canada and Australia completed the five countries that suffered the greatest damage to private wealth in the past year.

At the other end of the scale, Russia has seen one of the biggest gains in wealth in the world – despite some blows a wave of international trade sanctions as a result of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, data suggested that Russia’s wealthiest oligarchs collectively lost tens of millions of dollars as a direct result of the sanctions, while President Vladimir Putin recorded earlier this year that the sanctions could harm his country’s economy.

However, figures from the Global Wealth Report tell a different story: Russian wealth increased by $600 billion in 2022, with the country adding 56,000 millionaires over the past year and an increase in the number of ultra-high net worth individuals.

Along with Russia, Mexico, India and Brazil were the countries that saw the biggest wealth gains last year, according to the report by UBS and Credit Suisse.

While the impact of last year’s financial volatility hit some demographics harder than others over the past year, strategists at Credit Suisse have been optimistic about the future of wealth.

Nannette Hechler-Fayd’herbe, the bank’s chief investment officer for EMEA and global head of economics and research, and Richard Kersley, managing director for EMEA Securities Research, said in the report that Credit Suisse forecasts showed that global wealth was increasing more than 38% would increase over the next five years.

“Growth in middle-income countries will be the main driver of global trends,” they said. “We estimate that wealth per adult will reach $110,270 in 2027 and the number of millionaires will reach 86 million, while the number of ultra high net worth individuals is expected to increase to 372,000.”

In 2022, according to the Global Wealth Report, there were 59.4 dollar millionaires and 243,060 very high net worth individuals worldwide.