How many millionaires are there in the world?
Before you answer, let’s define millionaire. A millionaire is someone who has a net worth of $1,000,000 or more. As a reminder, your net worth is all of your assets minus all of your liabilities (i.e. debts).
For example, if you put all of your savings into vintage baseball cards and had a collection worth $200,000 but also had $50,000 of student loan debt, you would have a net worth of $150,000.
Over the past week, I’ve asked a few people in my life this question, and every single one of them guessed above the actual number.
According to the 2024 UBS Global Wealth Report, millionaires make up 1.5% of the world’s population.
Yep. Just 1.5%.
What wealth band do most people in the world belong to?
Over 42% of the global population has a net worth from $10,000 to $100,000. And not far behind are the 39% of people who have a net worth under $10,000. Meaning that more than 82% of the people who live on earth have a net worth of under $100,000.
I’m assuming your next question is, “Well, how many millionaires are in the United States?”
Of the roughly 260 million adults in the U.S., around 8% of them are millionaires.
The United States has by far the most millionaires of any country, clocking in at almost 22 million. China comes in second with 6 million, and no other country has more than 3 million people with a net worth of over $1 million.
I also think it’s important to note that the above numbers include housing in the net worth calculation. Since 2020, U.S. house prices have risen 27% after adjusting for inflation. This is already the second-highest returning decade for housing since 1930 and we’re only 4 years into this new decade. Not to mention that the 2010s saw housing prices increase by 26%, which is the third-best decade ever.
Many people have become millionaires over the past handful of years simply because their home equity has skyrocketed. However, rarely do people use the equity in their homes to fund their retirement or other financial goals.
The number of people with $1 million in usable, spendable net worth is far fewer than the numbers listed above.
Why am I sharing this data?
Well, one reason is to hopefully give you some encouragement.
If you’re reading this and you’re already a millionaire, then good for you. You’re one of the few and have accumulated more wealth than almost everyone on Earth.
If you’re reading this and you haven’t accumulated $1 million as of yet, that’s ok. You’re not alone; you belong to the vast majority.
The average millionaire age is 57 years old.
It takes the typical self-made millionaire over 30 years to obtain their wealth. Less than 1% of them do it before age 40. Different from what most financial media will tell you, building wealth takes time.
Today, we’re bombarded by people who flaunt their wealth. As we log in to social media every day we see people’s big houses, fancy vacations, nice clothes, fun toys, and expensive vehicles. And those are the people we compare ourselves to.
I get that we often rely on these outward appearances to measure financial success because that’s the only information we have available. But those things don’t have anything to do with building wealth.
Be careful when judging your own financial progress against someone’s online or public persona. You can easily be fooled into thinking that everyone is a millionaire but you.
However, that’s simply not the case.
Thanks for reading!
Jake Elm, CFP® is a financial advisor at Dentist Advisors. Jake a graduate of Utah Valley University’s nationally ranked Personal Financial Planning program. As a financial advisor at Dentist Advisors, he provides dentists with fiduciary guidance related to investments, debt, savings, taxes, and insurance. Learn more about Jake.