A new report by Henley & Partners has found that Switzerland's cities remain a hotspot for the world’s 1 percent. Zurich was found to be home to the 14th most million and billionaires in the world, with Geneva placing 19th.
Every year, Henley & Partners review 97 cities around the world to see which metropolis is home to the most million and billionaires. Using data from New World Wealth, a wealth tracking and intelligence firm that monitors the spending habits of 150.000 multi-millionaires, they are able to piece together where the richest among us like to live.
The ranking for 2023 comes amid the continued fallout from COVID-19, the subsequent supply chain problems and now the war in Ukraine. During the last few years, the wealth of the world’s richest people has grown significantly, with a recent report by the Oxfam charity estimating that the world’s 1 percent now own double as much as the remaining 99 percent combined.
Given its reputation for Wall Street fat cats and high-flying entrepreneurs, it’s perhaps not surprising that New York City was found to be home to the highest number of rich people, with 340.000 residents having an estimated net worth of over a million US dollars. The Big Apple also had the most residents with a net worth of over 100 million dollars (724).
Tokyo placed second on the list with 290.300 wealthy residents, followed by the Bay Area (San Francisco and Silicon Valley) with 285.000. According to Henley & Partners, the land of California Dreaming plays host to the most billionaires in the world, with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Charles Schwab being just 2 of the 63 that call the area home.
The biggest growth on the list was recorded in Hangzhou, China and Austin, Texas - between 2012 and 2022, the wealthy population of the two cities has doubled. In contrast, likely due to the war in Ukraine, the size of Moscow's affluent community has dropped the most, with the population declining by 44 percent
As the land of low taxes and high salaries, Switzerland took pride of place on the list, with Zurich coming just behind Frankfurt to rank 14th. 99.300 people in the city are said to have wealth of over 1 million US dollars - around a quarter of the total population.
With the city being home to some of the richest people in Switzerland, Geneva placed between Paris and Dubai in 19th place. The city is home to 85.800 million, multi-million or billionaires.
Both Swiss cities have seen their affluent populations expand in recent years, with Zurich and Geneva's jet-set growing by 35 and 45 percent respectively between 2012 and 2022. In fact, if the ranking is converted to rich people per capita, both metropolises shoot up to the top of the ranking alongside the famous microstate of Monaco.
In all, here are the 10 wealthiest cities in the world in 2023.
For more information, and to see how other cities did, check out the official website.