The number of high net worth individuals (HNWI) in China passed the 1 million mark for the first time last year, following a surge in the "innovative industries" sector, according to a report published yesterday.
Defined as having more than 10 million yuan (U.S.$1.6 million) of investable assets, the country's super rich totaled 1.04 million at the end of last year, or twice the number recorded in 2010, the China Private Wealth Report said.
The annual study is compiled by consulting firm Bain & Co and China Merchants Bank.
China's investable assets rose by 16 percent annually between 2012 and 2014 to 112 trillion yuan last year, the report said, adding that the figure is set to grow to 129 trillion yuan this year.
Many of the "new rich" came from innovative industries such as IT, biotechnology and alternative energy, the report said. About 80 percent of them are aged under 50.
"China's HNWIs are driving the growth of the country's real economy, particularly in key innovative sectors, which is helping to fuel the economy and advance innovation," said Alfred Shang, a partner at Bain and co-author of the report.
"Among the newly rich, we're seeing a more aggressive investment style, openness toward alternative investments, and increased focus on wealth creation, second only to wealth preservation as their primary wealth management objectives," he said.
Guangdong Province has the most wealthy individuals, with more than 100,000, though Shanghai and Beijing, and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Sichuan each have more than 50,000, the report said.
Wealth in the west
The fastest growth in the rich population between 2012 and last year happened in central and west China, with the number of wealthy people in Hubei and Shaanxi provinces, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region rising by more than 30 percent a year, it said.
"We expect continued growth in central and western China given the One Belt, One Road initiative and the Yangtze River Economic Belt policies," the report said.
The report, which includes a survey of 2,800 wealthy Chinese individuals, said that there had been an increasing appetite for overseas investment. Nearly 40 percent of those polled said they held overseas investments — up from 19 percent in 2011 — while about half said they planned to increase their overseas allocation in the next year or two.
Meanwhile, according to the 2015 Billionaire Report released yesterday by UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers, Asia will overtake the United States as the world's cradle for wealth generation in the next five to 10 years.
In China in the first three months of this year, a new billionaire was created almost every week, the report said.
While U.S. entrepreneurs have traditionally created most of the global wealth amid a wave of innovation in technology and finance, Asia's new industrialists, consumer product tycoons and real estate investors have crystallized their wealth from rapid macroeconomic growth, globalization and urbanization, it said.
As of last year, the U.S. was home to 47 percent of the world's self-made billionaires, followed by Asia with 36 percent and Europe with 17 percent. By the end of last year there were more than 1,300 billionaires around the world, with a combined wealth of U.S.$5.4 trillion.
