The world’s centi-millionaires — individuals with liquid investable assets of US$100 million or more — have ballooned by 54 per cent over the past decade, a new report shows.

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The Centi-Millionaire Report 2024 was released Tuesday by British wealth and investment migration advisors Henley & Partners with data from New World Wealth, a global wealth intelligence firm based in South Africa.

The data shows there’s a growing cohort of the ultra-wealthy — although many of them are concentrated in specific countries and cities.

The U.S. and China appear to be experiencing a centi-millionaire boom, surging by 81 per cent and 108 per cent, respectively, while Europe has fallen behind at just 21 per cent over the past 10 years.

In comparison, Canada’s centi-millionaire numbers have expanded by 42 per cent to a total of 495.

Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth, said that centi-millionaire growth is a more comprehensive measure of wealth across the globe compared to billionaire growth, noting that billionaires are more common in larger markets like in the U.S..

“US$100 million in liquid wealth is the amount of money that’s normally considered to make someone super rich, and it’s also the general threshold for people starting their own family offices,” Amoils added.

About a third of the world’s centi-millionaires reside in 50 cities across the world, with U.S. metropolises making up 15 cities on the list and New York City (744 centi-millionaires), The Bay Area (675 centi-millionaires) and Los Angeles (496 centi-millionaires) landing the top three spots.

Two major Canadian cities made their way to the list as well, with Toronto boasting 195 centi-millionaires and Vancouver with 80, but projected to grow further in the next 16 years.

Vancouver has “been catching up for a while, so we expect that to continue, because there are a large number of wealthy people that move to Vancouver,” Amoils said.

Calgary and Montreal were considered top wealth hubs to watch, with Amoils highlighting that New World Wealth expects the tech and basic materials sectors to grow in Calgary.

He noted that measuring the growth of the super-wealthy can be a good indicator of business formation and what places are more attractive for business growth, as well as opportunities for others to generate wealth themselves.

“The businesses started by centi-millionaires have a significant positive spillover effect on the middle class as they create large numbers of well-paying jobs in their base country,” Amoils said in a press release. “It is also worth noting that most of the companies on the Fortune 500, the S&P 500, the CAC 40, the FTSE 100 and the Nikkei 225 were started by individuals who went on to become centi-millionaires.”

Across the globe, over 60 per cent of centi-millionaires are entrepreneurs and company founders, Amoils said, adding that financial services and hi-tech are major sectors for centi-millionaire wealth growth.

Financial services are a top sector in Canada, with over 20 per cent of the country’s centi-millionaires belonging to that sphere.

• Email: slouis@postmedia.com

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