Africa accounts for 16 percent of the world’s population, but 1 percent of the world’s wealth.
To make matters worse, of the $2.2 trillion in total wealth held in Africa, 42 percent belongs to 140,000-or-so people considered high-net-worth individuals, according to the latest African Wealth Report.
That’s 140,000 people out of around 1.315 billion Africans controlling $920 billion of Africa’s wealth. That number includes 23 billionaires living in Africa, each with net assets of $1 billion or more.
A high-net-worth individual is anyone who has financial assets worth more than $1 million.
To put those numbers into perspective, the average person living in Africa has net assets of approximately $1,900, compared to $27,000 per person in average net assets worldwide.
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South Africa has the largest high-net-worth population, with 39,200 dollar millionaires making up 28 percent of the total 140,000 in Africa, according to the report, which is compiled by New World Wealth and AfrAsia Bank.
The majority of wealthiest South Africans live in Johannesburg. The richest city in Africa, Johannesburg is home to 16,600 people with more than $1 million in assets.
Most of Johannesburg’s wealth is concentrated in Sandton, headquarters of the largest stock market in Africa, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and the head offices of many large banks including Standard Bank and Nedbank, BusinessTech reports.
Sandton’s Central Business District is known as the Golden Mile — the wealthiest square mile on the continent.
Egypt is the African country with the second-highest number of super-rich — 16,700 high-net-worth individuals — followed by Nigeria with 9,900.
