Posted by From Laolu Akande, New York on
ALTHOUGH it is one of the richest continents in natural resources, Africa is at the base of the ladder in a ranking of millionaires conducted by a US-based investment firm, Merrill Lynch, and its business consultant firm, Capgemini.
ALTHOUGH it is one of the richest continents in natural resources, Africa is at the base of the ladder in a ranking of millionaires conducted by a US-based investment firm, Merrill Lynch, and its business consultant firm, Capgemini.
The ranking, published in the World Wealth Report 2005, says, "the number of high-net-worth individuals included: 2.7 million in North America, with a total of $9.3 trillion in assets; 2.6 million in Europe, with $8.9 trillion; 2.3 million in the Asia-Pacific region, with $7.2 trillion; 300,000 in Latin America, including Mexico, with $3.7 trillion; 300,000 in the Middle East, with $1 trillion; and 100,000 in Africa, with $700 billion."
The report also forecasts that by 2009, the high-net-worth individuals would have amassed $42.2 trillion in assets. By region, this means, $13.9 trillion in North America; $10.7 trillion in Europe; $10.1 trillion in the Asia-Pacific region; $5 trillion in Latin America; $1.5 trillion in the Middle East and $900 billion in Africa.
However, Nigerian scholars in the US have pointed out critical areas that the report may have overlooked. For instance, the report does not contain any detail on African countries apart from South Africa. The producers, however, promised to provide the reason to The Guardian, though this was still being awaited as at press time.
Dr. Dike Ezekoye, a professor of engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, said
the quoted per capita values are quite high for Africa. Per capita, the ranking is (1) Latin America at $12.3M (2) Africa at $7.0M and (3) is essentially a tie for all others, at about $3.3M." Ezekoye said there is probably a "wealth concentration issue in this, if looked at closely enough and in relation to other demographic data."
But Professor Mobolaji Aluko of the Howard University, Washington DC, added that the per capita, as explained by Ezekoye, must be that of the rich, "which means that, on average, the rich people in Latin America and in Africa, are on average four times and two times richer than those in the rest of the geographical regions of the world."
The wealth report found that there were 8.3 million people worldwide with $1million or more in financial assets at the end of 2004, up from 7.7 million a year earlier. Their total wealth rose 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion in 2004, giving them control of nearly a quarter of the world's financial assets.
The millionaire class was especially strong in North America because of last year's economic growth in both the United States and Canada.
According to the report, North America surpassed Europe both in total high-net-worth individuals population and wealth for the first time since 2001, when investors in the US were buffetted by the bursting of the technology stock bubble and the terror attacks.
There was also strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
The report also reviewed "ultra-high-net-worth individuals," who garnered at least $30 million in assets. It noted that such ranks increased by 6,300 individuals, or 8.9 percent, in 2004 to 77,500 worldwide.
It added that even though the world economy grew very fast in 2004, the millionaires were more cautious in their investment.