Around 35% of millionaires in the Middle East said they plan to increase their level of philanthropy this year, compared to the global average of 41%

Source: Annual World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.

HNWI POPULATION AND WEALTH CONTRACT SIGNIFICANTLY

At the end of 2008, the

• world’s population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs1) was down 14.9% from the year before, while their wealth had dropped 19.5%. The unprecedented declines wiped out two robust years of growth in 2006 and 2007, reducing both the HNWI population and its wealth to below levels seen at the close of 2005.

• Ultra-HNWIs2 suffered more extensive losses in financial wealth than the HNWI population as a whole. The Ultra-HNWI population fell 24.6%, as the group’s wealth dropped 23.9%, pushing many down into the ‘mid-tier millionaire’3 pool.

• The global HNWI population is still concentrated, but the ranks are shifting. The U.S., Japan and Germany together accounted for 54.0% of the world’s HNWI population in 2008, up very slightly from 53.3% in 2007. China’s HNWI population surpassed that of the U.K. to become the fourth largest in the world. Hong Kong’s HNWI population shrank the most in percentage terms (down 61.3%).

• HNWI wealth is forecast to start growing again as the global economy recovers. By 2013, we forecast global HNWI financial wealth to recover to $48.5 trillion, after advancing at a sustained annual rate of 8.1%. By 2013, we expect Asia-Pacific to overtake North America as the largest region for HNWI financial wealth.

The report found while 55 percent of high net worth individuals (HNWIs), or those with investable assets in excess $1m, in the Asia/Pacific region plan to increase their philanthropic offerings this year. This is compared to 35 percent of HNWIs in the Middle East and an average of 41%. Middle East HNWIs were second from the bottom in terms of their plans to increase their expenditure on philanthropy this year, beaten only by those in Latin America, where 33 percent said they plan to spend more on charitable giving.
The term ‘strategic philanthropy’ means addressing the root causes of global problems versus simply addressing the immediate symptoms.

The number of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) in the UAE dropped almost 20 percent last year, according to a new report.

While the number of HNWIs surged 17.1 percent globally, and the number in the Middle East rose 7.1 percent, the UAE saw its community of wealthy individuals shrink by 18.8 percent,

The annual report, the 14th in the series, found that those with investable assets in excess of $1m increased by 17.1 percent worldwide in 2009 to nearly ten million individuals.

The overall wealth of these high net worth individuals (HNWI) rose 18.9 percent to $39tn in 2009. The majority – 53.5 percent of the HNWIs – were resident in just three countries: the US, Japan and Germany.

The biggest growth of HNWIs last year was the Asia/Pacific region, which surged 25.8 percent. By comparison, the Middle East’s community of HNWIs rose 7.1 percent to around 400,000 and the capital they managed was up 5.1 percent to $1.5tn.

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