Aerial view of yachts moored in the Port Vell marina of Barcelona, Spain
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A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide for wealthy investors and consumers. Register to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
Soaring stock markets created nearly 2 million new millionaires around the world last year, with the ultra-rich seeing the fastest growth, according to a new study.
The global population of millionaires jumped 7.9% to 25.3 million in 2025, according to Capgemini’s World Wealth Report. Their total wealth increased 8.7% to $98.3 trillion, the fastest growth in five years.
At the same time, the wealth gap between millionaires and the ultra-rich continues to widen. The growing wealth of millionaires – defined by Capgemini as those owning $1 million or more in investable assets, excluding primary residence, collectibles and consumer goods – has been outpaced by the growth of so-called “high net worth individuals (UHNWIs),” or those owning $30 million or more. The population of UHNWIs increased by 9.4% in 2025, to 250,000 people, and their wealth increased by 9.7%, according to the report.
UHNWIs now make up 1% of the overall millionaire population, but they hold 35% of all millionaire wealth, according to the study. Gareth Wilson, head of global banking at Capgemini, said one of the reasons the ultra-rich are outpacing millionaires is their access to higher-yielding private investments.
“They have access to investments and opportunities that aren’t even available to the millionaires next door, whether it’s pre-IPO investments or private markets,” Wilson said. “When you look at individuals who own investable assets at that scale, they probably have more influence in terms of access to certain hedge funds, access to private markets, and they probably have access to other types of pre-IPO investments that we as mere mortals probably don’t even know about.”
Geographically, the United States continues to generate much of the global millionaire growth. The United States welcomed 730,000 new millionaires in 2025, bringing the total population of American millionaires to 8.73 million, according to the report. Their fortune jumped by almost $3 trillion, to $31.3 trillion.
Asia also saw strong growth, with millionaire wealth up 10.5% and the millionaire population up 9.4%.
While China has been the main engine of Asian wealth growth for years, Korea and Taiwan are now leading Asia’s wealth creation, as the Korean stock market surged 76% last year and semiconductor stocks propelled Taiwan’s markets higher. The total population of millionaires in Asia reached 8.3 million in 2025, according to the report.
Europe’s millionaire population grew by 6.5%, while Latin America’s grew by 0.3% and the Middle East saw a decline of 1.4%.
When it comes to their investments, the world’s millionaires are increasing their stock holdings. They held an average of 25% of their portfolios in stocks in 2025, compared to 22% in 2024 – likely due to rising stock prices. Their share of alternatives fell from 15% to 12%, and their liquidity also fell from 26% to 24%. Their fixed income holdings increased from 18% to 20% and their real estate investments remained stable at 19%.
Increased stock holdings and cash withdrawals reflect a continued “risk-on” attitude among millionaire investors. With markets coming off three years of double-digit gains, investors are more worried about missing out on an uptrend than losing.
“Stock performance encourages a shift from lower-risk to higher-risk investments,” Wilson said. “I would say we’ve probably seen an increase in risk appetite, and we’ve also seen high-net-worth individuals follow the money in terms of stock performance.”
While increased wealth has created more opportunities for wealth managers, it also creates new challenges. Today’s wealthy increasingly share their wealth among several advisors based on their specialties, rather than relying on one or two trusted companies. A quarter of all millionaires now use between four and six advisors, double the number in 2019, according to Capgemini. The number of millionaires using only one advisor fell by more than half, to 19%.
At the same time, wealthy investors are turning to nontraditional companies for advice. At the lower end of the wealth spectrum, for those with $1 million to $5 million, investors are using more robo-advisors or automated platforms. In the mid-tier segment, say $5 million to $100 million, more and more clients are turning to RIAs rather than traditional money transfer companies and banks. And at the top, many people create their family offices.
To better serve customers in the new competitive landscape, companies must understand all of their needs, rather than focusing only on investment guidelines, Capgemini said. Companies that offer personalized products and services tailored to customers’ lives and needs will capture more assets.
Advisors also need to spend more time building trusting relationships with clients, Wilson said.
“We’ve seen where that relationship manager is able to build trust, make a very personalized connection and also orchestrate all the products and services for the customer in a specific way,” Wilson said. “Not only do they maintain that relationship, but customers will recommend them. You want your high-net-worth individuals to recommend you to their friends at the country club, golf club or yacht club.”