Who wants to be a millionaire? Number of Singapore’s rich climbed in 2013

They have a total wealth of US$523 billion.

In spite of skyrocketing living costs, the number of High Net Worth Individuals in Singapore still increased in 2013, according to the annual World Wealth Report released by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management.

According to the report, there were 105,000 High Net Worth Individuals (HWNI) in Singapore in 2013, with a combined wealth of US$523 billion.

The country’s HWNI population grew by 4.5% in 2013, compared with 91,150 in 2012.

Singapore ranks 25th among the world’s countries where HWNIs are most populous. HWNIs are generally considered to be people with wealth in excess of US$1 million.

Here’s more from the report:
Global HNWI wealth grew by almost 14% to reach a second-consecutive record high of US$ 52.6 trillion in 2013, building on a strong five-year trend.

The top two markets of U.S. and Japan, which cover 46.1% of the global HNWI population, accounted for more than 55% of HNWI population growth in 2013. Similarly, the top four markets, consisting of the U.S., Japan, Germany, and China, accounted for nearly 70% of HNWI population growth in 2013.

Asia-Pacific continued to drive global HNWI population growth in 2013, with its HNWI population recording the largest increase among regions by 17.3%, to reach by 4.32 million to narrow the gap on North America – the region with the largest HNWI population at 4.33 million – to just 10k individuals.

While North America maintained its position as the largest HNWI market, Asia-Pacific is expected to surpass it in the very near future. Asia-Pacific also led in HNWI wealth growth, the wealth of its HNWIs growing 18.2% to reach US $14.20 trillion.