UBS wealth report: Another 400,000 Australians will become millionaires by 2028

The number of global millionaires is set to keep rising over the next four years, with Australia’s count forecast to jump 21 per cent — further compounding the nation’s widening wealth gap amid an extended cost-of-living crisis.

By 2028, the number of adults with personal wealth of more than $US1 million ($1.5m) will have risen in 52 of the 56 countries surveyed as part of the latest global wealth report from analysts UBS.

The increase will be led by Taiwan, where the number of millionaires is forecast to jump 47 per cent from about 780,000 in 2023 to just under 1.6 million in 2028 on the back of its booming micro-chip industry and growing immigration by wealthy foreigners.

Australia will gain nearly 400,000 new millionaires, with the total number set to reach more than 2.3 million by 2028.

While it may not feel like it — with higher inflation and interest rates — UBS named Australia the second-richest country, with a median wealth of $US261,805 as of 2023, behind Luxembourg ($US372,258).

The report also revealed Australia’s wealth inequality grew 5.4 per cent between 2008 and 2023.

UBS global wealth management chief economist Paul Donovan said the world economy was embarking on a period of profound structural change.

“Such episodes often create significant changes in wealth patterns,” he said.

“At the same time, wealth is needed to finance the investment in both technology and people that will allow humanity and the planet to thrive in the brave new world.”

The UBS survey comes as a new Productivity Commission report on Thursday revealed nearly 70 per cent of the so-called Xennial — those born between 1976 and 1982 — earn more than their parents did at a similar age.

But it also found children raised by the highest and lowest income earners were more likely to follow in their parents’ footsteps.

Almost 15 per cent of people with parents in the bottom income decile stayed there, while just 6 per cent ended up in the top decile. Similarly, those with top-earning parents were more likely to stay there themselves.

The research from the Federal Government’s independent productivity body revealed poverty levels were the highest they have been since 2001 and have been on a steady rise.

“On top of this, cost of living pressures and rising property prices mean higher earnings may not afford you the same standard of living and access to wealth as they have in the past,” Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood said.

“We shouldn’t take the ‘fair go’ for granted.”