Asia-Pacific Wealth Climbing as UBS Ranks Top Global Economies in 2025 Wealth Report

Several gaming-friendly jurisdictions across Asia and the broader APAC region have landed spots in UBS’ Global Wealth Report 2025, a year that saw global personal wealth expand by 4.6 percent overall. The report highlights uneven but continued growth, with multiple Asia-Pacific nations gaining ground in average wealth per adult (AWPD), even as the region as a whole still lags behind the Americas and EMEA in per capita terms.

Hong Kong, which offers regulated sports betting and a state-run lottery, retained its strong position in the global rankings, coming in third for AWPD at $601,195. It has maintained this ranking from the previous year. Australia also held firm in fifth place, posting average adult wealth of $516,640. Singapore moved up one spot in this year’s rankings to claim seventh place, with AWPD of $441,596. That improvement came at the expense of New Zealand, which dropped one rank to eighth, with average adult wealth now recorded at $393,773.

Taiwan continued its upward trajectory, climbing to 15th place with AWPD at $312,075, a one-position gain from the prior year. South Korea followed a similar trend, moving up one notch to secure the 20th spot with average wealth per adult at $251,223. Japan, on the other hand, slipped down to 24th place, with an AWPD of $205,221.

Despite individual improvements among these jurisdictions, the APAC region as a whole still trails behind other major economic blocs in wealth per adult. UBS calculated the region’s AWPD at $66,808 — far below the Americas’ $311,846 and EMEA’s $167,696. These regional figures are adjusted for population size and demographic weight.

UBS noted that while the overall growth in personal wealth was “solid but uneven,” the Americas led with a strong 11.35 percent increase in 2024. APAC registered more modest growth of 2.85 percent, while EMEA posted a marginal 0.44 percent gain.

Breaking the APAC region into sub-segments, Greater China outpaced Southeast Asia with a 3.42 percent rise in total personal wealth for 2024, compared to Southeast Asia’s 2.67 percent. China’s average adult wealth stood at $88,985, while Southeast Asia’s figure was $40,753.

According to UBS, just two nations — the United States and Mainland China — collectively account for 54 percent of global personal wealth from the 56 markets included in the survey. Japan, by comparison, holds 4.5 percent of total wealth, while India controls 3.4 percent. Hong Kong holds 0.8 percent, and Singapore accounts for 0.5 percent.

UBS’ findings on millionaires underline the United States’ continued dominance in global wealth. “The United States hosts the largest number of USD millionaires in the world by far, more than Western Europe and Greater China combined,” the report stated. North America is home to 43.2 percent of all millionaires globally, compared with 12.9 percent in Greater China and 9.3 percent in Southeast Asia.

Interestingly, Greater China leads the world in the number of individuals with wealth between $100,000 and $1 million, accounting for 28.2 percent of people in that bracket. Southeast Asia follows with 15.6 percent.

In terms of absolute numbers, the United States is home to 23.83 million millionaires, while Mainland China is a distant second with 6.32 million. Japan ranks fourth globally, with 2.73 million millionaires. Australia has 1.9 million, South Korea 1.3 million, and India is home to 917,000. Taiwan counts 759,000 millionaires, Hong Kong 647,000, and Singapore rounds out the list with 331,000.

These numbers are drawn from a nearly 60-million-strong global millionaire population, who together control $226.47 trillion in assets. UBS noted that the United States continues to add millionaires at an extraordinary pace, creating more than 1,000 new millionaires daily. In comparison, China generates 386 new millionaires per day.

At the top end of the wealth pyramid, UBS identified 2,891 billionaires in its sample group as of the end of 2024, which represents only a slight increase from the prior year. Of these ultra-wealthy individuals, just 31 have amassed fortunes exceeding $50 billion.

By fLEXI tEAM