Number of millionaire households in Russia keeps growing

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – June 12, 2014) Wealth of Russian households increased 21.9% in 2013 to reach $1.92tn. The figures are disclosed in a survey “Riding a Wave of Growth: Global Wealth 2014” made public by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and seen by RBC daily. Whilst calculating overall wealth, BCG took account of total cash savings and deposits of ind…

Wealth of Russian households increased 21.9% in 2013 to reach $1.92tn. The figures are disclosed in a survey “Riding a Wave of Growth: Global Wealth 2014” made public by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and seen by RBC daily.

Whilst calculating overall wealth, BCG took account of total cash savings and deposits of individuals as well as the value of various securities owned by them. What is interesting is that wealth of Russian households grew at a much slower pace earlier: by 17.4% on average over the period from 2008 to 2012.

As before, the Russian people prefer to keep money on deposits or in cash ($1.2tn or 60%). Shares ($0.6tn or 33%) are the second most popular means of keeping money. A minor part of savings is placed in bonds ($0.1tn or 7%). Over the past five years, the share of funds invested in various securities has increased from 37% to 43%.

Russia is still in the top-15 countries by the number of millionaire households: their number was 213,000 in 2013 (No.13). It is 0.4% of the total number of Russian households in 2013 (0.3% in 2012). The number of ultra-rich households holding over $100m reached 536. Russia ranks 5th in the world in this respect. A year earlier, there were only 328 ultra-rich households in the country.

Wealth of households holding from $5m to $100m increases most rapidly: their wealth increased nearly 34% compared with 2012. The poorest segment of the population (wealth below USD 100,000) showed the slowest growth of wealth – they became richer by 11% only.

Wealth of the Russian people will grow at a much slower pace over the years 2014-2018 – by 12.9% a year, BCG analysts think. BCG refused to tell RBC how much this estimate is adjusted for Russia’s current economic difficulties, capital outflow because of the crisis in Ukraine and sanctions.