Korea ranks 11th worldwide in the number of the "super rich," or people whose net assets exceed USD 50 million (KRW 69.6 billion). (Yonhap News)

By Lee Jihae

Korea ranks 11th worldwide in the number of people whose net assets exceed USD 50 million (KRW 69.6 billion).

According to this year's Global Wealth Report released on Sept. 20 by the Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse, the number of those with "ultra high-net worth" or net assets exceeding USD 50 million worldwide was 264,200 at the end of last year.

The country with the most "super rich" people was the U.S. (141,135), followed in order in the top 10 by China (32,706), Germany (9,724), Canada (5,507), India (4,984), Japan (4,872), France (4,636), Australia (4,632), the U.K. (4,175) and Italy (3,930).

The number of such individuals in 2020 was 218,200.

The report said the number of individuals with ultra-high net worth rose due to low interest rates and growth in the value of real estate and stocks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of Korean adults with assets of over USD 1 million (KRW 1.39 billion) was 1.29 million late last year.

The estimated net worth of the average Korean adult was USD 237,644 (KRW 330 million), with median net worth of USD 93,141 (KRW 130 million).

In addition, 1,043,000 Korean adults were part of the global top 1% in net worth and 18,483,000 were included in the top 10%.

"Wealth inequality is relatively low in Japan, Korea and Taiwan," Credit Suisse said in its report. "This lower-than-average wealth inequality partly reflects the more equal distribution of income in these countries. Relatively heavy inheritance taxes in Korea and Japan also have an impact."

The report forecast continuous growth in the number of individuals with high net worth around the world.

The bank estimated that 87.5 million people worldwide will have net worth of at least USD 1 million by 2026, up 40% from 62.5 million last year.

Korea was expected to see its number of millionaires jump 60% from 1.29 million last year to 2.06 million in 2026.

jihlee08@korea.kr