Global millionaires grow to 8.7M

Big jump in South Korea, India, Russia

The United States is home to the most millionaires, with 2.67 million.

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(CNN) -- The world's store of millionaires keeps on growing, with another half-million people joining the club in 2005, according to an annual survey.

Many of the newcomers can be found in high-growth economies such as China, India, Brazil and Russia, although the United States continues to dominate. It is home to 2.67 millionaires, or about a third of the world's richest people.

South Korea posted the biggest gain, with a 21.3 percent rise in the number of its millionaires last year.

Globally, the number of people with more than $1 million in net assets rose 6.5 percent in 2005 to 8.7 million, according to a report by Merill Lynch and Capgemini released on June 20.

Their 10th annual World Wealth Report found that these millionaires have total net assets of $33.3 trillion, excluding the value of their primary residences.

The number of super-rich people -- those with financial assets of more than $30 million, and known in the report as "ultra high net worth individuals" -- grew 10.2 percent to 85,400.

Double digits

South Korea's 21.3 percent gain was followed by India, up 19.3 percent, and Russia, up 17.4 percent.

South Africa, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil all posted double-digit increases. Numbers in China grew 6.8 percent.

"Real GDP growth and market capitalization were the two main drivers of wealth creation, making 2005 a year of robust but decelerating growth for some regions following two consecutive years of strong global performance," said Robert McCann of Merrill Lynch.

Growth in the number of U.S. millionaires slowed a little from 9.9 percent in 2004 to 6.8 percent last year, as rising oil prices and higher interest rates hit stock market returns.

After the U.S. figure of 2.67 million millionaires, Germany had 767,000, the UK had 448,000 and China had 320,000 in 2005, according to the survey. Brazil had 109,000, Russia had 103,000 and India had 83,000. Australia was home to 146,000 millionaires, while Canada had 232,000.

By region, there were about 2.9 million in North America, 2.8 million in Europe, 2.4 million in Asia Pacific, 300,000 in Latin America, 300,000 in the Middle East and 100,000 in Africa.

The survey authors forecast that the financial wealth of millionaires around the globe will reach $44.6 trillion by 2010, growing at an annual rate of 6.0 percent.

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