The number of people with greater wealth has been reduced and the value of their fortune registered the biggest drop in 10 years according to an international study by the consultancy Capgemini.
The number of world’s rich, defined by Capgemini as people whose disposable income — excluding primary residence — exceeds $1 million, fell 3.3% in 2022 to 21.7 million people, the cabinet calculated in a study published on Thursday.
Understandably, the value of his fortune also declined, with an estimated total net worth of $83 billion, 3.6% less than last year.
“This represents the biggest setback in 10 years, due to the macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty”highlights Capgemini in his report, which includes 71 countries and uses as a methodology a statistical counting system and a graphical representation called the Lorenz curve.
The war in Ukraine and its consequences on the planet, as well as the triggering of the inflation and the interest rate hike of central banks have made 2022 especially difficult economically.
“There is necessarily a relationship” between the evolution of the stock indices, which registered a net fall, and that of fortunes, since these assets are increasingly made up of financial assets, considers Elias Ghanem, director of financial research at the Capgemini group. .
Some of the largest fortunes slowed down their progression last year, such as the first world fortune and owner of LVMH Bernard Arnault, the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, or the heiress to the l’Oréal empire, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, according to Forbes magazine.
Regionally, the richest people in North America have seen the largest decline in value, at -7.4%, followed by those in Europe (-3.2%) and Asia-Pacific (-2.7%).
Those located in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, on the other hand, progressed, according to Capgemini, thanks to the solid results of the oil and gas sectors, whose prices shot up after the start of the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia. .