China Internet Watch

China’s Wealthy Households Decline Amid Economic Shifts

CIW Team — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Recent data from the Hurun Research Institute reveals a nuanced shift in China's wealth landscape, marking a slight decline in the country's affluent families.

As of January 1, 2023, the number of "affluent households" in China, defined as those possessing assets over 6 million yuan (about US$830k), slightly decreased by 0.8%, totaling 5.14 million households. This decline of approximately 41,000 families from the previous year suggests a subtle yet noticeable shift in China's economic fabric.

The report further categorizes wealth into more refined segments, revealing that the number of "high-net-worth households" - those with assets exceeding 10 million yuan (US$1.38 million) - witnessed a 1.3% decrease, settling at 2.08 million households. This contraction, though marginal, underscores a broader economic recalibration affecting China's wealthy.

More pronounced was the dip among "ultra-high-net-worth households" with assets over 100 million yuan, which contracted by 3.8...

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China’s wealthy families exceeded 5 million in 2020; there are their desired brands

CIW Team — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 03:00:05 +0000

The number of "wealthy families" with at least 6 million yuan (about US$930 thousand) assets in China exceeded 5 million for the first time in 2020, an increase of 1.4% over the previous year, according to Hurun Research Institute.

Beijing is still the area with the most "wealthy families" with assets of at least 6 million yuan, with Guangdong and Shanghai ranking second and third.

For the first time, the number of "wealthy families" exceeded 5 million, an increase of 1.4% over the previous year. The number of "high net worth families" with over 10 million yuan assets increased by 2% over the previous year to 2.02 million.

The number of "super high net worth families" with over 100 million yuan (about US$15.54 million) assets increased by 2.4% to 130,000 over the previous year.

The total wealth of these Chinese "wealthy families" with no less than 6 million yuan assets is 146 trillion yuan, which is 1.5 times of China's one year GDP, according to the Hurun report.

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China now the second-largest wealth market with 2.3M HNWIs

CIW Team — Tue, 05 May 2020 00:00:47 +0000

China has overtaken Japan to emerge as the second-largest wealth market, with an estimated 2.3 million high net worth individuals (HNWI) including almost 26,700 UHNWs in 2019 – though the market remains substantially smaller than the US, according to research company Wealth-X.

The ultra-wealthy in China with a total wealth of $4.2 trillion maintain a significantly higher combined wealth than the 2 million individuals at the ‘lowest’ wealth tier.

Top 3 Cities by Population

Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen are the top 3 cities in China by wealthy population; but, only Shanghai makes it into the top 30 global cities according to Wealth-X’s study.

China now has more than 100 cities with a population of more than one million individuals. In contrast to Tokyo, which is home to 40% of all the country’s ultra-wealthy individuals, Shanghai accounts for just 6% of the total ultra-wealthy population in China.

Asset Allocation

UHNW individuals in China hold a greater proportion of their wealth in private and public holdings than the global average. This is due in part to its younger population, many of whom are still in the midst of ventures that drive wealth creation, as well as a trend for the wealthy in China to invest their savings into real estate.

CIW Members can get the report here (PDF). You can subscribe here.

China has 249 billionaires, worth US$670 bn in 2016

CIW Team — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 02:00:57 +0000

There are 2,397 billionaires in the world, which represents a 3.1% decline in billionaire population in 2016, the first annual decrease since the global financial crisis according to Billionaire Census 2017 by Wealth-X.

The report reveals that 283 individuals (more than 10% of total billionaires) lost their billionaire status in 2016, and 207 new billionaires emerged to join this exclusive wealth tier.

The top 5 countries in the world by the total number of billionaires are the United States, China, Germany, Russia, and the UK.

China has 249 billionaires, a decrease of 4.2%; the total wealth dropped by 0.7% to US$670 billion. And, about 1/3 of Chinese billionaires are under age 50.

Also read: China’s HNWI outbound tourism trends in 2016

China’s HNWI outbound tourism trends in 2016

CIW Team — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 02:00:09 +0000

On average, a high net worth individual (HNWI) in China has been to 10 countries, according to a Hurun Report. Chinese HNWIs travel abroad 3 times per year. Each trip takes 10 days and costs about 50,000 yuan.

The number of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWI) in China reached 1.34 million, an additional 130,000 compared to 2015 as of May 2016 according to Hurun Research.

The top 5 outbound travel destinations of China’s HNWIs in 2016 are the U.S. (leisure, investment, education, business), Japan (shopping and food), Maldives (honeymoon, leisure), Australia (island scenery), and France (shopping paradise).

Air China and Singapore Airlines are the favorite domestic and foreign airlines respectively.

The most expected overseas region to visit is Europe among Chinese HNWIs in the next three years.

HNWIs in China travel abroad three times a year. Over half surveyed travel no less than 3 times per year; 12.7% more than 5 times.

HNWIs in China each on average spends about 10 days per trip or 30 days per year on overseas trips.

The top purpose of HNWIs’ overseas traveling is for leisure (85.2%). Investment research, shopping & food, and research for children education are also among the top purposes.

Chinese HNWIs are used to obtain overseas travel information via family & friends, and travel agencies.

Local food, shopping, places of interest, cultural environment, and safety are the top factors for Chinese HNWIs planning overseas travel itineraries.

HNWIs in China have experienced travelers, each of which has been to 10 countries.

The U.S. is the most popular destination with 74.9% of HNWIs been there.

The top 10 favorite countries of China’s HNWIs travelers are the U.S., Japan, Maldives, Australia, France, Switzerland, Canada, UK, Italy, and Germany.

China’s HNWIs overseas traveling can be split into three categories: adventure tourism, family trip, and study and culture exploration.

China’s ultra high net worth individuals grown to 1.34 million in 2016

CIW Team — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 00:00:11 +0000

The number of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWI) in China reached 1.34 million, an additional 130,000 compared to 2015 as of May 2016 according to Hurun Research.

The number of UHNWIs in China whose total assets worth exceed RMB 100 million reached 89,000, with an growth rate of 14.1%.

Guangdong province replaced Beijing as the top region with the most number of UHNWIs (240,000) with a growth rate of 17.65%. Beijing ranks second with 238,000 UHNWIs, followed by Shanghai (205,000) and Zhejiang province (160,000). The combined UHNWIs of this four regions reached 843,000, accounting for 63% of total.

China’s UHNWIs are mainly comprised of four groups: business owners (55%), gold collar (20%), real estate investors (15%), and professional stock traders (10%).

Continue to read China’s HNWIs outbound travel trends »