There are more wealthy Chinese than Americans for the first time
(CNN Business)For the first time, there are more rich Chinese than Americans in the top 10%.
A new report from Credit Suisse (CS) shows that wealth in China is ticking up, and the country now accounts for 100 million of the richest 10% of people in the world. There are 99 million Americans in the same category.
The United States still has many more millionaires — 18.6 million, or 40% of the world’s total, versus 4.4 million in China. It’s also adding to the millionaire count at a faster clip. The report credits low interest rates and Republican tax cuts for the country’s 11th consecutive year of rising wealth.
The average American is also still much richer than their Chinese counterparts, with US wealth per adult at $432,365 compared with $58,544 in China.
But China holds claim to a growing piece of the pie, replacing Europe as the principal engine of global wealth growth. That’s in spite of the trade war that’s weighing on the nation’s economy.
“Trade conditions and debt levels are causing concern, but signs for the coming years are otherwise fairly positive,” Credit Suisse observed in its annual Global Wealth Report.