Global ultra-wealthy population hits record 556,850 in 2025

The world just minted ultra-wealthy at the fastest pace in nearly a decade. Altrata’s World Ultra Wealth Report 2026 found that the global ultra-high-net-worth population, defined as individuals with a net worth of $30m or more, expanded by 14.4% to 556,850 people, marking the strongest annual rate of increase since 2017 and the second consecutive year of growth exceeding 10%.

What the report actually says

The group’s combined net worth climbed 14.3% to $63.8tn. That is a wealth pool larger than twice the annual GDP of the United States, and it is compounding faster than the broader millionaire cohort beneath it.

The Altrata report showed that those worth more than $30 million made up a little over 1% of the millionaire population but held 32% of that group’s wealth. Zooming out, the ultrawealthy made up 0.01% of the global adult population but held 11% of all private wealth held by individuals.

The AI trade did the heavy lifting

For the first time since the pandemic, all major asset classes delivered positive returns, with global equities generating double-digit gains for a third straight year. Lower inflation, steady fiscal and monetary support, resilient corporate earnings and sustained enthusiasm for AI investment all bolstered wealthy portfolios, even as geopolitical tensions and shifting US trade policy created periodic turbulence.

One of the fastest-growing subgroups of the ultrawealthy in recent years has been centi-millionaires, or those worth more than $100 million, mainly from founding or investing in rapidly-growing technology companies, according to Altrata. Translation: concentrated equity in AI-adjacent names is where the wealth creation is happening.

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Where the money lives

The U.S. remained home to more of the ultrawealthy than the rest of the top 10 countries combined, with 37% of the population. China and Germany came in second and third, respectively, with about 10% and 5%.

The New York metropolitan area continued to have the largest number of ultrawealthy residents, though the metropolitan areas of Hong Kong, Los Angeles and San Francisco followed. That geographic mix maps cleanly onto tech and finance hubs.

Options market and stocks to watch

The story here is straightforward: ultra-wealth expansion is riding mega-cap tech and AI infrastructure. A few names to keep on the radar:

• NVDA — the central AI-capex beneficiary; watch for continued flow into upside calls if the AI narrative persists.
• MSFT — enterprise AI monetization; watch for reaction to any capex guidance changes.
• GOOGL — cloud and AI leverage; watch positioning into earnings.
• LVMUY — luxury spend is a direct read-through on UHNW health; watch for divergence from equity strength.
• SPY — broad-tape proxy for the equity gains fueling the wealth print; watch GEX and market tide for regime shifts.

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