The World Wealth Report is a good reflection of the tremors that are going through the world. The publication of this international study conducted by the consulting firm Capgemini, made public this Thursday, June 1, again acts as an indicator. According to this study, in 2022, people with the highest wealth saw their number and the value of their wealth experience the largest decline in ten years, under the effect of a decline in stock market indices.
The number of wealthy people worldwide, defined by Capgemini as people whose money available outside their main residence exceeds $1 million, fell 3.3% in 2022 to 21.7 million people, the firm calculated. .
Logically, the value of their wealth also fell, with an estimated total wealth of 83 trillion dollars, a decrease of 3.6% compared to the previous year. Indeed, the estimated wealth in 2022 was 86 trillion dollars.
The “correlation” between stock market indices and fortunes
“This represents the largest setback in ten years, due to macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties”, underlines Capgemini in its report which evaluated 71 countries and uses as methodology a statistical census system and a graphical representation called the Lorenz curve.
The outbreak of war in Ukraine and its consequences on the planet, as well as soaring inflation and rising central bank interest rates have made 2022 a particularly difficult year economically.
The stock market indices experienced a sharp decline last year: the CAC 40 index lost 9.5%, the Nasdaq in the United States plunged by 33%, and the S & P 500 index, bringing together the 500 main American companies, fell 20%.
“There is necessarily a correlation” between the evolution of stock market indices and that of fortunes because fortune is increasingly made up of financial assets, estimates with AFP Elias Ghanem, director of financial research of the Capgemini group.
Some of the wealthiest themselves saw a sharp slowdown in their wealth growth last year, from the world’s biggest fortune and LVMH boss Bernard Arnault to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg or L’Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, according to Forbes magazine’s Real Time Wealth Index.
A sharp decline in fortunes located in North America
In detail, fortunes located in North America experienced the largest decline in value with -7.4%, followed by those located in Europe (-3.2%) and Asia-Pacific (-2.7% ), according to this study.
Conversely, those located in Africa (+1.6%), Latin America (+2.1%) and the Middle East (+1.5%) progressed, notes Capgemini, thanks to performance strong in the oil and gas sectors, whose prices soared with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West.