In just two years, the country’s rich list has mushroomed
Who are they? Where are they? No-one is saying. The Global Wealth Report is simply being cited in terms of its data, which suggests in the space of two years – years in which the country was ostensibly struggling against economic adversity from all sides – the number of national millionaires has grown by 31,000.
The report shows that each adult Portuguese had, on average, €66,000 ‘saved’ at the end of last year, “almost twice as much as in 2012”, says SIC Notícias.
.This year’s Global Wealth Report “reveals that the Portuguese are richer than they were 10 years ago” – with the number of millionaires growing 23% from 2021 to 2022.
“The number of Portuguese with a fortune superior to a million euros has reached 166,000”, with 31,000 new millionaires having ‘joined’ since 2021.
Of this seemingly privileged group, there are 108 Portuguese with fortunes considered ‘ultra elevated’, meaning they are worth in excess of 50 million dollars (almost €46 million) – and of these 108 super-rich, there are nine beyond-super-rich, with fortunes that are valued at in excess of 500 million dollars (€458 million).
Explain the charts, right now, two thirds of the population have assets (property/ wealth) that donot reach a value of more than €94,000. Then comes the 2.6 million people with assets of between €100,000 and a million euros, and finally the select 166,000 with a great deal more.
Even with this apparent growth in the number of wealthy citizens, Portugal is barely a blip on the bigger picture representing global wealth. According to data from UBS (which compiles the Global Wealth Report), wealth generated in Portugal equates to 0.3% of global wealth, says SIC.
But if one considers galloping property prices, the reason for the sudden ‘increase’ in wealth/ millionaires may be easier to understand: homes that people bought around a decade ago for €50,000 can now sell in some areas of the country for anything between €300,000 to even €400,000. On that basis, the country’s new wealthy, even millionaires, may simply be property owners who made some wise choices.
