For many people concerned about building wealth, last year was not a banner year: many businesses were mired in red ink, stocks tumbled and the global economy weakened. Yet the number of millionaires around the world grew, albeit at a snail's pace.
The number of high-net-worth people -- those with investable assets of at least US$1 million, excluding real estate -- rose by 3 percent, or slightly less than 200,000, to 7.1 million last year,according to a report released last week by Merrill Lynch and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.
The combined financial assets of these individuals grew by 3 percent, to US$26.2 trillion, the report said.
The biggest increase in wealth was in Latin America, where total assets of high-net-worth people rose 8 percent; followed by Asia, 7 percent; and North America, 1.7 percent.
The numbers were flat in Europe and the Middle East.
Kelly Martin, president of the International Private Client Group at Merrill Lynch, said the growth in wealth last year was the slowest since her company began publishing such data in 1997.
"However, given the extremely difficult financial market conditions," she said, "this growth highlights the underlying strength of this market segment."
How did the rich get richer?
They were able to buy the best financial advice and put their eggs in many different investment baskets, said James Greene, global head of financial services at Cap Gemini.
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