Hong Kong lags behind rival Singapore in global wealth ranking

Hong Kong is lagging behind rival Singapore in a ranking of the world’s wealthiest cities due to the significant drop of the number of millionaires in the city. 

According to the latest report titled “World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2023” by investment migration company Henley & Partners in partnership with New World Health, the number of millionaires in Hong Kong dropped 27% to 129,500 between 2012 and 2022. 

This led to a tumble in Hong Kong’s ranking from the fourth place in 2012 down to seventh place currently, much lower than Singapore, which sits in fifth place with 240,100 resident millionaires. Other Chinese cities including Beijing (128,200) and Shanghai (127,200) came in eighth and ninth places respectively.

One of China's most enduringly popular holiday spots, Hangzhou, tops the charts in this respect with millionaire growth of 105% between 2012 and 2022. High-tech capital, Shenzhen, and the port city of Guangzhou also enjoyed significant HNWI expansion over the past decade, at 98% and 86%, respectively.

Meanwhile, New York City is crowned the wealthiest in the world with 340,000 millionaires, while two other American wealth hubs — the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles come in third and sixth places, with 285,000 and 205,400 resident high-net-worth individuals, respectively.

Tokyo, which led the pack ten years ago, falls to second place with 290,300 millionaires, and London, the wealthiest city in the world for many years, drops down to fourth place with 258,000 resident HNWIs.

Sydney comes in 10th place with 126,900 millionaires. Sydney has experienced especially strong wealth growth over the past 20 years and is projected to break into the global Top 5 wealthiest cities by 2040, according to the report.

Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley & Partners, said seven of the Top 10 wealthiest cities in the world are in countries that host formal investment migration programs and actively encourage foreign direct investment in return for residence or citizenship rights.

“The right to live, work, study, and invest in leading international wealth hubs such as New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, and Hong Kong can be secured via residence by investment. Being able to relocate yourself, your family, or your business to a more favorable city or have the option to choose between multiple different residences across the world is an increasingly important aspect of international wealth and legacy planning for private clients.”

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