Hong Kong's "very high net worth" population falls by 5.4%

The city is still amongst the top 10 territories with the wealthiest populations.

Hong Kong’s population with “very high net worth” (VHNW) dropped 5.4% to a total of 60,425 individuals with a total wealth of $667b in 2020, but the city maintained its position as the 8^th biggest population of VHNW residents.

“In Hong Kong, China’s imposition of a new national-security law led to widespread social unrest and diminished the territory’s attractiveness as an international business hub,” Wealth X said in the recent report.

Hong Kong also ranked 8^th in 2019 with 63,530, reflecting a 10.5% year-on-year increase; and a total wealth of $663b.

Hong Kong was considered this year’s underperformer against its Asian neighbours, particularly, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Asia placed second ahead of Europe as its overall VHNW population increased 5.2% to 761,070, raising its collective net worth to $7.6t. This is around 29% of the global VHNW wealth, according to Wealth X.

Globally, the VHNW population increased by 1.3% to 2.7 million people with a combined wealth of $26.8t.

“This was a resilient performance set against the backdrop of a global pandemic and the deepest contraction in world economic output for a generation,” Wealth X said.

The report noted it forecasts the VHNW population to reach 3.8 million by 2025, a 1.2 million rise from 2020.