Where does India stand in global wealth distribution in 2018?

The Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report provides extensive information on global household wealth. Over the last one year, the global aggregate wealth has risen from approximately USD 14 trillion to USD 317 trillion, at a growth rate of 4.6%. While lower than the previous year, this growth rate is higher than the average growth rate in the post-2008 era. Moreover, it sufficiently outpaced population growth, leading to a record increase of roughly 3.2% in the wealth per person.

However, the global level of wealth, equivalent of a global figure of USD 63,100 per person does not take into account the massive variations in distribution across the regions and countries of the world. Such geographical imbalances in the distribution of household wealth is shown below.

North America and Europe together account for 60% of total household wealth, but comprise a meagre 17% of the world adult population. The discrepancy is modest in China and in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China and India), where the population share is about 30% higher than the wealth share. But the population share is more than three times the wealth share in Latin America, nine times the wealth share in India, and 15 times the wealth share in Africa.
As of mid-2018, in order to be amongst the wealthiest sections of the world, a person requires net assets of just USD 4,210. However, to be a part of the top 10% of global wealth holders, USD 93,170 is required, while in order to belong to the top 1%, USD 871,320 is required.
India, alongside other heavily populated countries like Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines and Turkey, belong to the “frontier wealth” range of USD 5,000 to USD 25,000. This range covers the largest land surface.
The regional pattern of wealth has been illustrated in the figure below, by assigning individuals to their corresponding global wealth positions.

The contrast between India and China is the most striking aspect of this regional composition of global wealth distribution in 2018. Comprising almost half the worldwide membership of deciles 7-9, most Chinese adults belong to the upper-middle section of global wealth distribution. This can be attributed to the country’s record of growth in combination with rising asset values and currency appreciation. China accounts for almost 18% of the top decile of global wealth holders and is slightly behind the US (20%) in terms of number of residents, but way ahead of Japan, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
China has now clearly established itself in second place in the world’s hierarchy of wealth. In contrast, more than a quarter of the residents of India are heavily concentrated in the bottom half of the distribution. However, the high wealth inequality and immense population level in India indicate that India has a significant chunk of members in the top wealth categories.

India Outbound
November 5, 2018

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