Wealth has varying levels. This article from Forbes will tell you about the three categories of wealth financial professionals use to classify wealthy people:
- High-net-worth individuals (HNWI) have between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000 in liquid assets.
- Very-high-net-worth individuals (VHNWI) have between $5,000,000 and $30,000,000 in liquid assets.
- Ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) have more than $30,000,000 in liquid assets.
Take note of the operative term: liquid assets. HNWIs, VHNWIs and UHNWIs likely have more wealth in non-liquid assets.
A new term that denotes the super-wealthy is also floating around: the centimillionaire. The members of this new class (i.e., centi-millionaires) are making second citizenship investments to acquire citizenship rights and a second passport from other countries.
What Is a Centimillionaire?
Centimillionaire is a portmanteau of centi- (a word that denotes one hundred) and millionaire. Literally, centimillionaire translates to “one hundred millionaire.” What could be a more fitting name for people with investable assets of $100,000,000 or greater?
Centi-millionaires are the super-rich and super-wealthy. Based on the widely accepted wealth classifications, a centimillionaire belongs to the larger class of ultra-high-net-worth individuals or those with liquid assets greater than $30,000,000.
You can say all centi-millionaires are ultra-high-net-worth individuals. However, not all ultra-high-net-worth individuals are centi-millionaires.
Number of Centimillionaires
How many centi-millionaires in the world are there? This recent report says there are 28,420. This is more than twice what it was two decades ago.
Note that this figure may be an underestimation. New media and technology have created many new multimillionaires.
This report says seven of the 10 richest individuals by March 2021 owe their billions from technology. They are the following:
- Jeff Bezos
- Elon Musk
- Bill Gates
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Larry Page
- Sergey Brin
- Steve Ballmer
Social media has also generated its share of millionaires. Forbes lists the top 50 creators of 2023 who have amassed a combined $700 million in earnings. The following are some of them:
- Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast)
- Rhett & Link
- Preston Arsement (PrestonPlayz)
- Jake Paul
- Elliot Tebele (F*ckJerry)
- Mark Edward Fischbach (Markiplier)
- Sean McLoughlin (Jacksepticeye)
- Matt Rife
- Olajide Olatunji (KSI)
- Charli D’Amelio
- Logan Paul
- Emma Chamberlain
- Alexandra Cooper
- Brent Rivera
- Khabane (Khaby) Lame
Not all of the above content creators are centi-millionaires, of course. Even so, this speaks of the new media multimillionaire trend that might have turned more than a few individuals into centi-millionaires.
That said, extremely wealthy billionaire types continue to amass more than their proportional share of new wealth. In a press release, Oxfam International says the world’s richest 1% account for almost 66% of all new wealth created since 2020.
Centi-Millionaire-by-Country Distribution
Where can we find the world’s centi-millionaires? Of the 28,420 centi-millionaires on record, 9,428 or about one-third are concentrated in 50 cities in 26 countries. Based on the top 50 cities data, the following are the three countries with the densest concentrations of centi-millionaires:
1. United States of America
Twelve of the top 50 cities for centi-millionaires can be found in the United States. Of the 28,240 super-wealthy individuals on record, 3,311 or a good chunk at 11.65% are concentrated in just these 12 U.S. cities:
- New York City: 2.73%
- The Bay Area: 2.43%
- Los Angeles: 1.77%
- Chicago: 1.01%
- Houston: 0.90%
- Miami: 0.58%
- Seattle: 0.43%
- Dallas: 0.42%
- Greenwich and Darien: 0.39%
- Boston: 0.37%
- Austin: 0.31%
- Washington, D.C.: 0.30%
2. China
Five of the top 50 cities are in China. Together, the following five cities account for 1,017 centi-millionaires or 3.58% of the global centimillionaire population:
- Beijing: 1.28%
- Shanghai: 1.17%
- Shenzhen: 0.54%
- Hangzhou: 0.34%
- Guangzhou: 0.24%
Notice that there are more centi-millionaires in Beijing and Shanghai than in the centimillionaire-densest cities in the United States except New York City, The Bay Area and Los Angeles.
3. Switzerland
Switzerland has two cities in the top 50 list. Together, the following account for 492 centi-millionaires or 1.73% of the global total:
- Geneva: 0.92%
- Zurich: 0.81%
Other Countries
The top three countries above account for 19 of the top 50 cities for centi-millionaires. The remaining 31 cities, which account for 16.21% of the global centimillionaire population, can be found in the following 23 countries:
- United Kingdom: 1.37%
- Australia: 1.33%
- India: 1.23%
- Japan: 1.21%
- France: 1.21%
- Singapore: 1.16%
- Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China): 1.07%
- Canada: 0.93%
- Italy: 0.82%
- Germany: 0.80%
- UAE: 0.74%
- Russian Federation: 0.72%
- South Korea: 0.65%
- Monaco: 0.63%
- Israel: 0.30%
- Netherlands: 0.30%
- Luxembourg: 0.29%
- Taiwan: 0.29%
- Spain: 0.25%
- Austria: 0.23%
- Saudi Arabia: 0.23%
- Sweden: 0.23%
- Turkey: 0.23%
Centi-Millionaires by City
The city data paints a somewhat different picture from the centi-millionaire-by-country distribution data. Look at the following top 15 cities according to centimillionaire density:
- New York City: 2.73%
- The Bay Area: 2.43%
- Los Angeles: 1.77%
- London: 1.37%
- Beijing: 1.28%
- Shanghai: 1.17%
- Singapore: 1.16%
- Hong Kong: 1.07%
- Chicago: 1.01%
- Paris and Ile-de-France: 0.99%
- Tokyo: 0.97%
- Geneva (canton): 0.92%
- Houston: 0.90%
- Zurich (canton): 0.81%
- Mumbai: 0.79%
As you can see, even though China has more centi-millionaires than the United Kingdom, London has more than either Beijing or Shanghai. Additionally, while Switzerland is third in country ranking, Geneva and Zurich actually have fewer centi-millionaires than London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Chicago, Paris, and Tokyo.
Additionally, 16 of the 50 top cities for the super-wealthy are in Asia. They include Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong (SAR China), Tokyo, and Mumbai. Altogether, Asian cities account for 10.84% of the global centimillionaire population.
The Growth of the Global Centimillionaire Class
The world’s richest 1% still controls the bulk of the world’s resources and accounts for 66% of the world’s new wealth. That said, technology and new media are making many people wealthy.
There are currently 28,420 people with more than $100,000,000 in investable assets, a figure that is more than twice what it was two decades ago. It may even be an underestimation, and there may be more centi-millionaires than what the record says.
Citizens International is a second citizenship consultancy firm that helps high-net-worth individuals apply for citizenship through investment programs, particularly in the Caribbean. We also facilitate our clients’ offshore property investments, providing wealth diversification options in some of the most beautiful destinations in the world.
Are you considering obtaining a second citizenship from or investing in real estate in Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts & Nevis, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Lucia? Talk to us today.
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