Singapore is the 8th richest country in the world

Guess which other Western countries Singapore beat?

According to Allianz' third edition of its "Global Wealth Report", growth in the up-and-coming economies of Asia has been far from lackluster. Savers in these regions have been consistently reporting stellar asset growth rates since the turn of the millennium, with net per capita financial assets growing at annual rates running into the double digits on average.

Although the financial crisis of 2007/08 also prompted a marked slowdown in these regions, the annual growth rates remain robust at between 7% and 10%. On the other hand, average per capita assets only correspond to a fraction of the values seen in the established industrialized nations.

In this respect, Singapore behaves like an advanced economy. Last year, Singapore reported an increase of +3.4% in its net per capita financial assets, 11% ahead of the pre-crisis high reached in 2007. If we consider an even longer timeframe, Singapore achieves a solid performance when it comes to growth in net per capita financial assets, at an annual growth rate of 7.8% since 2000.

In a global comparison, Singapore ranked 8th in the list of the richest countries, with average net per capita financial assets totaling EUR 58,220 at the end of 2011 (compared to 16th in 2000). Singapore’s global advance is owed mainly to its subdued increase in private debt, in contrast to many Western economies.

As in the previous year, the Allianz Global Wealth Report classifies countries included in the analysis into three wealth classes. Singapore belongs to the group of "high wealth countries" (HWCs), where average net per capita financial assets come in at more than EUR 26,800.

By contrast, the growth of the middle class in the HWCs is fairly modest at 14%; most importantly, the growth is also moving in a different direction in these countries: more members of the wealth middle class means fewer members of the wealth upper class.

All in all, this means that the number of "rich" people has fallen slightly – in spite of population growth – since 2000 (-4%), a trend that also applies to the world's "poor" (-2%). The global wealth middle class is the only class that is growing.

Commenting on the growth of wealth in Singapore, Allianz Asia Pacific regional CEO David Fried said, “Singapore has shown strong resilience throughout the financial and debt crisis. This is very good news for the people here. However it is essential not to forget that demographic and behavioural forces remain in place, which makes it critical to save more for retirement.

Like other societies throughout the world and in particular Asia, people are living longer and have fewer children. Living longer is a mixed blessing. The longer one spends in retirement, the greater the need for savings and retirement income.”