Millionaire

{{Short description|Person with wealth beyond a certain value}} {{Other uses}} [[File:1 million dollar home.jpg|thumb|300px|A large suburban home valued at roughly $1,000,000 (2006) in Salinas, California, shown for scale of purchasing power]] {{EngvarB|date=July 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}} A '''millionaire''' is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire.<ref>Marlys Harris. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070701184758/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2007/07/01/100116670/ How to marry a billionaire]. Money Magazine. 21 June 2007. </ref> Many national currencies have, or have had at various times, a low unit value, in many cases due to past inflation. It is much easier and less significant to be a millionaire in those currencies, thus a millionaire in the local currency of Hong Kong or Taiwan, for example, may be merely of average wealth, or perhaps less wealthy than average. A millionaire in Zimbabwe in 2007 could have been extremely poor.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26034078|title=Zimbabwe's multi-currency confusion|date=6 February 2014|work=BBC News|language=en-GB|first=Brian|last=Hungwe|access-date=31 March 2019}}</ref> Because of this, the term 'millionaire' generally refers to those whose assets total at least one million units of a high-value currency, such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling.

At the end of 2011, there were around 5.1 million high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in the United States,<ref name="HNWI">{{cite news| url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/02/us-one-million-new-millionaires-obama_n_2066177.html | title=Number of high net worth individuals in US | access-date=2 November 2012 | work=Huffington Post | first=Meredith | last=Bennettsmith | date=2012-11-02}}</ref> while at the same time there were 11 million millionaires<ref name="US millionaires">{{cite web| url=https://www.businessinsider.com/new-millionaires-under-obama-2012-11 | title=Number of millionaires in US | website=Business Insider | access-date=2 November 2012 }}</ref> in a total of 3.5 million millionaire households,<ref name="US millionaire households">{{cite web| url=http://mytimemattersblog.com/average-millionaire-net-worth-billionaire-income/ | title=Number of millionaire households in US | access-date=2 November 2012 }}</ref> including those 5.1 million HNWIs. In countries that use the short scale number naming system, a billionaire is someone who has at least a thousand times a million dollars, euros or pounds.

==Terminology== The word "millionaire" was apparently coined in French in 1719 to describe speculators in the Mississippi Bubble who earned millions of livres in weeks before the bubble burst.<ref>{{cite book |last1=DeJean |first1=Joan |title=The Queen's Embroiderer: A True Story of Paris, Lovers, Swindlers, and the First Stock Market Crisis |date=2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=9781632864765 |page=fn.15 |no-pp=y |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BvJKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT208 |access-date=11 October 2019 |language=en |chapter=Chaptrer Twelve: The Invention of Money}}</ref><ref name="Mercure1719">{{cite journal |editor1-last=Buchet |editor1-first=Pierre-François |title=Faits Fugitifs |journal=Mercure de France |date=October 1719 |page=201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0o5QAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA201 |access-date=11 October 2019 |location=Paris |language=fr}}</ref> The standard French spelling is now {{lang|fr|millionnaire}},<ref>{{cite web |title=millionaire |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-french/millionaire |website=English to French Dictionary |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=11 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref> though the earliest reference uses a single ''n''.<ref name="Mercure1719"/> The word was first used (as millionnaire, double "n") in French in 1719 by Steven Fentiman,{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} and is first recorded in English in an article in ''The Times'' in 1795.<ref>{{Cite OED|millionaire|36904771}}</ref> Earlier English writers also mention the French word, including Sir William Mildmay in 1764.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mildmay |first1=Sir William |title=An Account of the Southern Maritime Provinces of France: Representing the Distress to which They Were Reduced at the Conclusion of the War in 1748 |date=1764 |publisher=Thomas Harrison |page=[https://archive.org/details/accountofsouther00mild/page/88 88] |url=https://archive.org/details/accountofsouther00mild |quote=several persons became bankrupt, who, before the war {{bracket|of the Austrian Succession}}, were esteemed amongst the number of their ''millionaires''; a term given to their rich merchants and brokers, when supposed to be worth a million of livres |access-date=11 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref> The anglicisation ''millionary'' was used in 1786 by Thomas Jefferson while serving as Minister to France; he wrote: "The poorest labourer stood on equal ground with the wealthiest Millionary".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00309747?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=millionary&first=1&max_to_show=10|title= Millionary, n. and adj.|work=Oxford English Dictionary|access-date=2008-07-21 | quote=1786 T. JEFFERSON Observ. on Démeunier's Manuscript 22 June in Papers (1954) X. 52 The poorest labourer stood on equal ground with the wealthiest Millionary}}</ref>

==Influence== While millionaires constitute only a small percentage of the population, they hold substantial control over economic resources, with the most powerful and prominent individuals usually ranking among them. The total amount of money held by millionaires can equal the amount of money held by a far higher number of poor people. The Gini coefficient, and other measures in economics, estimated for each country, are useful for determining how many of the poorest people have the equivalent total wealth of the few richest in the country. ''Forbes'' and ''Fortune'' magazines maintain lists of people based on their net worth and are generally considered authorities on the subject. ''Forbes'' listed 1,645 dollar billionaires in 2014, with an aggregate net worth of $6.4 trillion, an increase from $5.4 trillion the previous year (see US-dollar billionaires in the world).<ref name=2014list>{{cite magazine|title=Inside The 2014 Forbes Billionaires List: Facts And Figures|magazine=Forbes|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2014/03/03/inside-the-2014-forbes-billionaires-list-facts-and-figures/}}</ref>

According to a report by Hurun, a market research firm based in China, the global billionaire population stood at 3,381 in 2022.<ref name="2022 stat">{{cite news |last1=Block |first1=Fang |title=U.S. Boasts 38% of the World's Population of Centi-Millionaires |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/u-s-boasts-38-of-the-worlds-centi-millionaires-01674679280 |work=Barron's}}</ref> Sixteen percent of millionaires inherited their fortunes. Forty-seven percent of millionaires are business owners. Twenty-three percent of the world's millionaires got that way through paid work, consisting mostly of skilled professionals or managers.<ref>''The Economist: A special report on global leaders'', [https://www.economist.com/special-report/2011/01/22/more-millionaires-than-australians More millionaires than Australians], 20 January 2011, pp. 4–7.</ref> Millionaires are, on average, 61-years-old with $3.05 million in assets.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fidelity.com/inside-fidelity/individual-investing/fidelity-2012-millionaire-outlook |title=Fidelity Survey Finds 86 Percent of Millionaires are Self-Made |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724024512/http://www.fidelity.com/inside-fidelity/individual-investing/fidelity-2012-millionaire-outlook |archive-date=24 July 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

==Historical worth== Depending on how it is calculated, a million US dollars in 1900 is equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|1000000|1900|{{Inflation-year|US}}|r=0}}}} (in {{Inflation-year|US}}):{{Inflation-fn|US}}

* $24.8 million using the consumer price index, * $61.4 million using the gold price<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.measuringworth.com/gold/|title=Gold price trend}}</ref>

Thus one would need to have almost thirty million dollars today to have the purchasing power of a US millionaire in 1900, or more than 100 million dollars to have the same impact on the US economy.

==Multimillionaire== {{Redirect|Multi Millionaire|other uses|Multi-Millionaire (disambiguation)}} Dated ways of describing someone worth ''n'' millions are "''n''-fold millionaire" and "millionaire ''n'' times over". Still commonly used is '''multimillionaire''', which refers to individuals with net assets of 2 million or more of a currency.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of MULTIMILLIONAIRE |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/multimillionaire |access-date=2021-11-07 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref> There are approximately 584,000 US$ multimillionaires who have net assets of $10M+ worldwide in 2017.<ref name="visualcapitalist.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-global-shift-wealth-10-years/ |title=Map: Visualizing the Global Shift in Wealth Over 10 Years |website=www.visualcapitalist.com |date=2018-01-26}}</ref> Roughly 1.5% of US$ millionaires are "ultra-high-net-worth individuals" (ultra-HNWIs), defined as those with a net worth or wealth of $30 million or more. There are approximately 226,000 ultra-HNWIs in the world in 2017, according to Wealth-X.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.superyachtnews.com/fleet/reducing-waste-and-increasing-value |title=Reducing waste and increasing value |first=Nick |last= Lockett |website=Superyacht News |date=2018-01-30 }}</ref> The rising prevalence of people possessing ever increasing quantities of wealth has given rise to additional terms to further differentiate millionaires. Individuals with net assets of 100 million or more of a currency are commonly termed ''centimillionaires,''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of CENTIMILLIONAIRE |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/centimillionaire |access-date=2021-11-07 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref> or more rarely ''hectomillionaires''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Durgy |first=Edwin |title=Oh Snap! Shutterstock Founder Jon Oringer Is A Billionaire |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2013/06/28/oh-snap-shutterstock-founder-jon-oringer-is-a-billionaire/ |access-date=2021-11-07 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>

== Global cities with the most super-wealthy millionaires per capita ==

According to wealth research group Wealth-X that released its latest UHNW Cities report, showing the residential footprint of the world's top ultra-high net worth (UHNW) individual cities. Excluding Monaco – which has very high UHNWI density – Geneva has the highest density of super-wealthy people per capita in the world. The city is known as the most compact metropolitan area, and also enjoys a concentration of affluence. Singapore has the second-highest concentration, followed by San Jose, the center of Silicon Valley, and the largest city in Northern California. While New York City leads in terms of overall UHNW footprint, London has a similar number of UHNW "second homers" despite a considerably smaller population. Paris features as the second-highest European city, after London, Wealth-X said. Among suburbs and smaller towns, Beverly Hills has the highest overall number of UHNW residents, and Aspen has the highest concentration on a per capita basis, the report showed. Ultra-high net worth individuals are defined by Wealth-X as those whose total net worth is higher than $30 million (R400 million).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://businesstech.co.za/news/wealth/214251/global-cities-with-the-most-millionaires-per-capita/|title=Global cities with the most millionaires per capita|website=go.wealthx.com}}</ref>{{Static row numbers}}

== Number of millionaires == The following are lists of regions, countries, and cities by the number of millionaires by net worth (in US dollars) based on an annual assessment of wealth and assets compiled and published by the Swiss bank Credit Suisse. According to estimates, in the middle of 2021, there were 56 million people worldwide whose assets exceeded one million US dollars, of whom nearly 40% lived in the United States.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-10-22 |title=Millions of millionaires |url=https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/10/22/millions-of-millionaires |access-date=2019-11-11 |newspaper=Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

=== By region === {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" |+Numbers of US dollar millionaires by world region per Credit Suisse (2022)<ref name="databook2022">{{Cite book|last1=Shorrocks|first1=Anthony|author-link=Anthony Shorrocks|url=https://www.credit-suisse.com/media/assets/corporate/docs/about-us/research/publications/global-wealth-databook-2022.pdf|title=Global Wealth Databook 2022|last2=Davies|first2=James|last3=Lluberas|first3=Rodrigo|publisher=Credit Suisse Research Institute|year=2022}}</ref> !Rank !class=unsortable|Region !Numbers (in thousands) !Percentage of world total numbers !As percentage of total adult population |- | - !World !62,489 !100.0 !1.1 |- |1 |Northern America |26,778 |41.9 |9.5 |- |2 |Europe |16,696 |26.7 |2.8 |- |3 |Asia-Pacific |10,755 |17.2 |0.8 |- |4 |China |6,190 |9.9 |0.6 |- |5 |Latin America |915 |1.5 |0.2 |- |6 |India |796 |1.3 |0.1 |- |7 |Africa |352 |0.6 |0.1 |}

=== By country === {{See also|List of countries by number of millionaires}}

{{Static row numbers}}{{Table alignment}} ==Disparity in United States== {{Main|American upper class}} There is a wide disparity in the estimates of the number of millionaires residing in the United States. A quarterly report prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of Barclays Wealth in 2007 estimated that there were 16.6 million millionaires in the US.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090304015758/http://www.barclayswealth.com/files/volume5.pdf Barclays Wealth Insights]. Volume 5: Evolving Fortunes. Barclays (2008). p. 11</ref> At the end of 2011, there were around 5.1 million HNWIs in the US,<ref name="HNWI"/> while at the same time, there were 11 million millionaires<ref name="US millionaires"/> in a total of 3.5 million millionaire households,<ref name="US millionaire households"/> including those 5.1 million HNWIs.

According to TNS Financial Services, as reported by CNN Money, 2 million households in the US alone had a net worth of at least $1 million excluding primary residences in 2005.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://money.cnn.com/2006/03/28/news/economy/millionaires/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060407030050/http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/28/news/economy/millionaires/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=7 April 2006 | work=CNN | date=2006-03-28 | access-date=2010-05-12 | title=Top 10 millionaire counties | first1=Jeanne | last1=Sahadi}}</ref> According to TNS, in mid-2006 the number of millionaire US households was 9.3 million, with an increase of half a million since 2005.<ref name="TNS 2006">[http://www.tnsglobal.com/news/news-646FFE42874D492B9BEA80DA23F1ADC2.aspx TNS :: TNS Reports Record Breaking Number of Millionaires in the USA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004031427/http://www.tnsglobal.com/news/news-646FFE42874D492B9BEA80DA23F1ADC2.aspx |date=4 October 2011 }}. Tnsglobal.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-23.</ref> The study found that half of all millionaire households in the US were headed by retirees. In 2004 the United States saw a "33 percent increase over the 6.2 million households that met that criteria [sic] in 2003", fueled largely by the country's real estate boom.<ref>Sahadi, Jeanne. (2004-11-16) [https://web.archive.org/web/20041205073247/http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/16/pf/millionaire_households/ Real Estate investments as the main source of growth among millionaire households, according to CNN Money]. Money.cnn.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-23.</ref>

A report by Capgemini for Merrill Lynch on the other hand stated that in 2007 there were approximately 3,028,000 households in the United States who held at least US$1 million in financial assets, excluding collectibles, consumables, consumer durables and primary residences.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.us.capgemini.com/DownloadLibrary/files/Capgemini_FS_WWR08.pdf |title= report by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini |access-date= 13 October 2011 |archive-date= 14 May 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110514225834/http://www.us.capgemini.com/DownloadLibrary/files/Capgemini_FS_WWR08.pdf |url-status= dead }} {{small|(2.41 MB)}} (p. 35)</ref> According to TNS Financial Services, Los Angeles County, California, had the highest number of millionaires,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/pf/0704/gallery.Millionaire_Counties/index.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070505120735/http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/pf/0704/gallery.Millionaire_Counties/index.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=5 May 2007 | work=CNN | title=Top 10 millionaire counties. No 1. Los Angeles County, California | access-date=2010-05-12}}</ref> totalling over 262,800 households in mid-2006.<ref name="TNS 2006" />

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Top 10 U.S. counties by number of millionaires (2009)<ref>[https://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/73297/real_estate/top_10_us_counties_with_the_most_millionaires.html Top 10 U.S. Counties With The Most Millionaires]. Streetdirectory.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-23.</ref> |- !County||State||Metro area||Number of millionaire households |- |Los Angeles County||California||Los Angeles|| 268,138 |- |Cook County||Illinois||Chicago||171,118 |- |Orange County||California||Los Angeles||116,157 |- |Maricopa County||Arizona||Phoenix||113,414 |- |San Diego County||California||San Diego||102,138 |- |Harris County||Texas||Houston||99,504 |- |Nassau County||New York||New York||79,704 |- |Santa Clara County||California||San Francisco||74,824 |- |Palm Beach County||Florida||Miami||71,221 |- |King County||Washington||Seattle||68,390 |}

==References== {{Wikiquote}} {{Reflist}}

Category:Distribution of wealth