Asia is set to have the world's wealthiest residents, with city-state Singapore heading the rich list.
Hong Kong, Taiwan and
South Korea will do well, too,
according to by a new survey that
predicts which countries will be home to the wealthiest citizens by
2050.
By one measure, they are
already are. Singapore's per capita income is estimated by Knight Frank
and Citi Private Wealth's 2012 Wealth Report to be the highest in the
world at $56,532 in 2010, measured by purchasing power parity. Norway
follows at $51,226, then the U.S. ($45,511), Hong Kong ($45,301) and
Switzerland ($42,470). (The International Monetary Fund listed Singapore
3rd in the world in 2010-11 by per capita GDP, behind Qatar and
Luxembourg, which weren't included in the Knight Frank report).
By 2050, the Wealth
Report estimates the world's wealthy citizens will be dominated by Asia:
Singapore ($137,710), Hong Kong ($116,639), Taiwan ($114,093) and South
Korea ($107,752). The only western economy projected to remain in the
top five is the U.S., with an estimated per capita income of $100,802.
Danny Quah of the London
School of Economics predicts that by 2050, the world's economic center
of gravity will be somewhere between India and China, the report notes.
In 1980, the global economic center lay in the middle of the Atlantic.
Some of the world's
super-rich have already crossed the Pacific. Facebook co-founder Eduardo
Saverin, a native of Brazil, moved to Singapore in 2009 has since
renounced his U.S. citizenship. Jim Rogers, the co-founder of the
Quantum Fund with George Soros, also moved to the former British colony
in 2007.
"I have moved -- I have
sold my house in New York. I have moved to Asia and my girls speak
Mandarin, speak perfect Mandarin ... I'm preparing them for the 21st
century by knowing Asia and by speaking perfect Mandarin," Rogers told
CNN recently.
"It's easier to get rich
in Asia than it is in America now. The wind is in your face. (The U.S.)
is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world," Rogers added.
"The largest creditor
nations in the world are China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong,
Singapore. The assets are in Asia. You know who the debtors are and
where they are. Look at Greece. Look at Spain. I mean, I don't like
saying this. You know, I'm an American, too. But facts are facts."
The report's list of
fastest growing economies between 2010 and 2050 also gives more credence
that the world's wealth is moving toward Asia. Of the top 10 fastest
rising economies -- Nigeria, India, Iraq, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the
Philippines, Mongolia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Egypt, respectively --
all but three are in the region.
Old World economies will
have the worst growth performance in the next 40 years, the report
predicts: Spain, France, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, the
Netherlands, Italy and Germany are at the bottom of the list. But Japan
and its aging population will have the weakest projected growth of all
economies, Knight Frank estimates.
However, just because
the denizens of Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan are projected to live in
the world's wealthiest regions doesn't mean all will share in the
wealth.
In the report Tina
Fordham, Senior Global Political Analyst at Citi, warns that the
dissatisfaction with income inequality shown in the Occupy Wall Street
demonstrations "will gain momentum, and that there could be a long-term
recalibration between governments, businesses and society as a result."
On Monday, a court
ordered the protesters of Occupy Central in Hong Kong, one of the last
outposts of the global protests sparked by Occupy Wall Street, to give
up its encampment at HSBC's headquarters in the city.
