(NewsNation) — A strong stock market helped mint 562,000 new millionaires in the U.S. last year, according to a new report.
The nation’s high-net-worth population grew by 7.6% to 7.9 million in 2024, far outpacing the 2.6% global rise, Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2025 shows.
That domestic surge helped push the number of millionaires worldwide to a record 23.4 million.
High-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), defined as those with $1 million or more in investable assets, benefited from double-digit returns in the U.S. stock market, resilience fueled by stronger-than-expected economic growth and sustained enthusiasm for AI and tech stocks.
It was also a year of wealth concentration, with the ultra-rich emerging as the clear winners.
Globally, the number of so-called “millionaires next door” — individuals worth between $1 million and $5 million — grew by 2.4%. Meanwhile, the ultrawealthy population — those with investable assets of $30 million or more — grew more than twice as much, at 6.2%.
“Ultra-HNWIs remained resilient during market volatility with greater exposure to high-growth opportunities, whereas Millionaires Next Door focused on safer, low-yield opportunities like fixed-income and real estate,” the report said.
The wealthy continue to favor traditional investments like real estate, stocks and fixed income assets, but alternative investments like currencies, private equity and digital assets have gained traction in recent years.
As of January 2025, HNWI investors parked 15% of their portfolios in alternative investments, including private equity and cryptocurrencies, up from just 9% in 2018.
The report also highlighted the looming “great wealth transfer,” with older generations expected to pass on an estimated $83.5 trillion to Gen X, millennials and Gen Z by 2048. Within the next decade, women are projected to receive a significant share of that wealth.
The massive wealth transfer presents an opportunity for wealth managers but also considerable risk, Capgemini warned.
“The next-generation of high-net-worth individuals arrive with vastly different expectations to their parents,” Kartik Ramakrishnan, CEO of Capgemini’s Financial Services Strategic Business Unit and Group Executive Board Member, said in a release.
Ramakrishnan urged wealth management firms to shift away from “traditional strategies” and equip advisors with digital capabilities, “potentially augmented with agentic or generative AI.”
Outside the U.S., India and Japan were standouts, with both countries registering 5.6% growth, adding 20,000 and 210,000 millionaires last year. Meanwhile, China’s HNWI population declined by 1%.
In Europe, the high-net-worth population also declined by 2.1%, primarily due to economic stagnation in major countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany. The number of high-net-worth individuals shrank in the Middle East and Latin America too.
