A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire.[Marlys Harris. How to marry a billionaire. Money Magazine. 21 June 2007. ]
Many national currencies have, or have had at various times, a low unit value, in many cases due to past inflation. It is much easier and less significant to be a millionaire in those currencies, thus a millionaire in the local currency of Hong Kong or Taiwan, for example, may be merely of average wealth, or perhaps less wealthy than average. A millionaire in Zimbabwe in 2007 could have been extremely poor.
At the end of 2011, there were around 5.1 million HNWIs in the United States,
Terminology
The word "millionaire" was apparently coined in French in 1719 to describe speculators in the Mississippi Bubble who earned millions of
French livre in weeks before the bubble burst.
The standard French spelling is now millionnaire,
though the earliest reference uses a single
n.
The word was first used (as millionnaire, double "n") in French in 1719 by Steven Fentiman, and is first recorded in English in an article in
The Times in 1795.
Earlier English writers also mention the French word, including Sir
William Mildmay in 1764.
The
anglicisation millionary was used in 1786 by
Thomas Jefferson while serving as Minister to France; he wrote: "The poorest labourer stood on equal ground with the wealthiest Millionary".
Influence
While millionaires constitute only a small percentage of the population, they hold substantial control over economic resources, with the most powerful and prominent individuals usually ranking among them. The total amount of money held by millionaires can equal the amount of money held by a far higher number of poor people. The
Gini coefficient, and other measures in economics, estimated for each country, are useful for determining how many of the poorest people have the equivalent total wealth of the few richest in the country.
Forbes and
Fortune magazines maintain lists of people based on their net worth and are generally considered authorities on the subject.
Forbes listed 1,645 dollar billionaires in 2014, with an aggregate net worth of $6.4 trillion, an increase from $5.4 trillion the previous year (see US-dollar billionaires in the world).
According to a report by Hurun, a market research firm based in China, the global billionaire population stood at 3,381 in 2022.[ The Economist: A special report on global leaders, More millionaires than Australians, 20 January 2011, pp. 4–7.] Millionaires are, on average, 61-years-old with $3.05 million in assets.
Historical worth
Depending on how it is calculated, a million US dollars in 1900 is equivalent to $ (in ):
-
$24.8 million using the consumer price index,
-
$61.4 million using the gold price
Thus one would need to have almost thirty million dollars today to have the purchasing power of a US millionaire in 1900, or more than 100 million dollars to have the same impact on the US economy.
Multimillionaire
Dated ways of describing someone worth
n millions are "
n-fold millionaire" and "millionaire
n times over". Still commonly used is
multimillionaire, which refers to individuals with net assets of 2 million or more of a currency.
There are approximately 584,000 US$ multimillionaires who have net assets of $10M+ worldwide in 2017.
Roughly 1.5% of US$ millionaires are "ultra-high-net-worth individuals" (ultra-HNWIs), defined as those with a net worth or wealth of $30 million or more. There are approximately 226,000 ultra-HNWIs in the world in 2017, according to Wealth-X.
The rising prevalence of people possessing ever increasing quantities of wealth has given rise to additional terms to further differentiate millionaires. Individuals with net assets of 100 million or more of a currency are commonly termed
centimillionaires, or more rarely
hectomillionaires.
HNWI population
-net-worth individuals (those with financial assets, not including the residence, greater than a million US dollars):
|
|
|
| $46.2 trillion |
| $12.7 trillion |
| $12.0 trillion |
| $10.9 trillion |
| $7.5 trillion |
| $1.8 trillion |
| $1.3 trillion |
Global cities with the most super-wealthy millionaires per capita (higher than $30 million)
According to wealth research group Wealth-X that released its latest UHNW Cities report, showing the residential footprint of the world's top ultra-high net worth (UHNW) individual cities. Excluding
Monaco City – which has very high UHNWI density –
Geneva has the highest density of super-wealthy people per capita in the world. The city is known as the most compact metropolitan area, and also enjoys a concentration of affluence.
Singapore has the second-highest concentration, followed by San Jose, the center of
Silicon Valley, and the largest city in Northern California.
While New York City leads in terms of overall UHNW footprint,
London has a similar number of UHNW "second homers" despite a considerably smaller population.
Paris features as the second-highest European city, after London, Wealth-X said.
Among suburbs and smaller towns, Beverly Hills has the highest overall number of UHNW residents, and Aspen has the highest concentration on a per capita basis, the report showed.
Ultra-high net worth individuals are defined by Wealth-X as those whose total net worth is higher than $30 million (R400 million).
Number of UHNWIs per country
The following is a list of the countries with the most Ultra high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) as of 2023 as per the 2024 Knight Frank's Wealth Report:
|
|
| 225,077 |
| 98,551 |
| 29,021 |
| 27,928 |
| 24,941 |
| 23,072 |
| 21,710 |
| 15,952 |
| 15,347 |
| 14,734 |
| 13,263 |
| 10,149 |
| 8,390 |
| 7,640 |
| 7,310 |
Countries by number and percentage of millionaires
* indicates links to articles on the economy of the country or territorial goods.
+ Numbers of US dollar millionaires by country
per UBS (2024) |
| 8.5 |
| 0.6 |
| 5.8 |
| 5.8 |
| 2.7 |
| 4.1 |
| 6.3 |
| 9.5 |
| 2.7 |
| 3.1 |
| 8.7 |
| 3.1 |
| 15.7 |
| 0.1 |
| 3.8 |
| 10.5 |
| 6.8 |
| 6.0 |
| 0.3 |
| 0.2 |
| 1.5 |
| 7.9 |
| 0.4 |
| 5.9 |
| 2.8 |
| 2.7 |
| 0.1 |
| 2.0 |
| 0.2 |
| 0.2 |
| 0.6 |
| 0.1 |
| 0.3 |
| 1.2 |
| 0.3 |
Number of millionaires by city
, New York is the wealthiest city in the world with 384,500 HNWIs according to the World's Wealthiest Cities Report 2025 by Henley & Partners.
The amount of wealth held by people in New York City is nearly $3 trillion.
Some places have a sharp, quantitative increase in seasonal wealthy residents including cities such as
Paris and
Miami,
Rocky Mountains ski towns like Aspen, and various beachfront towns of the
French Riviera like
Cannes.
[
]
|
|
| $2.9T |
| $2.6T |
| $2.5T |
| |
| $1.3T |
| $2.3T |
| $2.3T |
| |
| $1.1T |
| |
| 11 | Milan | 115,000 | 24% | |
| 12 | Beijing | 114,300 | 72% | $2.0T |
|
Disparity in United States
There is a wide disparity in the estimates of the number of millionaires residing in the United States.
A quarterly report prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of Barclays Wealth in 2007 estimated that there were 16.6 million millionaires in the US.[ Barclays Wealth Insights. Volume 5: Evolving Fortunes. Barclays (2008). p. 11] At the end of 2011, there were around 5.1 million HNWIs in the US,
According to TNS Financial Services, as reported by CNN Money, 2 million households in the US alone had a net worth of at least $1 million excluding primary residences in 2005.[ TNS :: TNS Reports Record Breaking Number of Millionaires in the USA . Tnsglobal.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-23.] The study found that half of all millionaire households in the US were headed by retirees. In 2004 the United States saw a "33 percent increase over the 6.2 million households that met that criteria [sic] in 2003", fueled largely by the country's real estate boom.[Sahadi, Jeanne. (2004-11-16) Real Estate investments as the main source of growth among millionaire households, according to CNN Money. Money.cnn.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-23.]
A report by Capgemini for Merrill Lynch on the other hand stated that in 2007 there were approximately 3,028,000 households in the United States who held at least US$1 million in financial assets, excluding collectibles, consumables, consumer durables and primary residences.[ (p. 35)] According to TNS Financial Services, Los Angeles County, California, had the highest number of millionaires,
+ Top 10 counties by HNWIs (more than $1 million, in 2009)[ Top 10 U.S. Counties With The Most Millionaires. Streetdirectory.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-23.] |
|
| 268,138 |
| 171,118 |
| 116,157 |
| 113,414 |
| 102,138 |
| 99,504 |
| 79,704 |
| 74,824 |
| 71,221 |
| 68,390 |
See also
-
Aggregate demand
-
Billionaire
-
Business oligarch
-
Distribution of wealth
-
High-net-worth individual
-
Upper middle class
-
Upper class
-
Six figure income
-
Wealth concentration
-
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (game show)
-
The Millionaire Next Door (book)
-
Moscow Millionaire Fair
-
Pierre Lorillard II (first United States to be designated a "millionaire")
-
List of African millionaires
-
Lists of billionaires
-
Sunday Times Rich List
