For the fourteenth consecutive year, Credit Suisse has presented its “Global Wealth Report” on household wealth around the world. It is the first time the report has been published since the Swiss bank was bought up by competitor UBS last spring.
The study shows that the Swiss are the richest people in the world. In 2022, each adult Swiss had an average fortune of just over 685,000 dollars, equivalent to 7.4 million kroner. In addition to financial assets such as shares and funds, property holdings are included.
Swedes’ prosperity declined
Sweden ranks 14th. The average wealth amounted to 296,800 dollars, corresponding to 3.2 million kroner. In comparison to 2021, the Swede’s fortune has decreased by nearly SEK 750,000.
At the same time, the study underlines that most countries that have lost wealth in 2022 also significantly increased their wealth the year before. 2021 was a good year on the world’s stock exchanges, unlike 2022. The Stockholm Stock Exchange, for example, rose by 29 percent in 2021 to fall by 18 percent in 2022.
Global wealth, total private net worth, fell by 11.3 trillion (a 2.4 percent decline) in 2022. That’s the first decline since the 2008 financial crisis, when Credit Suisse began wealth reporting.
The high inflationary pressures, which led to rising interest rates, have hampered the economic growth that picked up after the pandemic and many currencies have lost value against the dollar as a result, the banks write.
Despite this, global wealth is expected to increase by 38 percent by 2027 and reach $629 trillion, the study notes.
Fewer dollar millionaires
A total of 3.5 million people lost their dollar millionaire status last year. According to Credit Suisse/UBS, the number of dollar millionaires in Sweden decreased between 2021 and 2022, from 589 to 467. Thus, Sweden no longer accounts for more than 1 percent of the world’s dollar millionaires.
In relation to its population (8.7 million), Switzerland has a high number of dollar millionaires (1,097).
Other explanations, according to the report, for Switzerland’s top ranking are the country’s pension system, which rests on three pillars: state, employment-based and private pension.