The streets of London may not be paved with gold, but there is clearly still a lot of it around.
One in 39 Londoners – or 227,000 people out of a population of 8.8 million – has at least $1 million in investable liquid wealth. According to to Report of the richest cities in the world 2024.
The research, by Henley & Partners and New World Wealth, ranks the UK capital fifth globally in terms of its high-net-worth population, behind New York (349,500 millionaires), San Francisco and the Bay Area (305,700), and Tokyo (298,300 millionaires). and Singapore (244,800).
Paris ranked seventh in the world and second in Europe, where there are 165,000 liquid millionaires. Despite being home to the richest person in the world, Bernard Arnault, the French capital comes after London in total billionaires, with 23 billionaires compared to 35 billionaires in London.
It is not surprising to find high-net-worth individuals clustered in major global cities like these, where much wealth is created and managed.
However, the ranking reflects more than the economic activity of the cities in question. Policies have an impact too.
London and the UK more broadly have historically been very successful in attracting wealthy foreigners, but according to Henley data, the country has seen a net inflow of millionaires since the Brexit vote in 2016.
“Whatever one thinks about the merits of Brexit, this group is voting with their feet. Along with the policy change to remove permanent non-resident taxpayer status, Brexit has made the UK less hospitable and welcoming to the wealthy,” the former chief trade economist said. At Lloyds Bank Trevor Williams. Comment last year.
There has also been an increase in net millionaire outflows in 2022-23, with around 5,000 people estimated to have left – something likely linked to the UK's abrupt end to the Tier 1 (or 'gold') investor visa following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. .
London and Paris were joined by 15 other European cities in the world's top 50, with Dublin having the fastest growing number of millionaires and Moscow the fastest declining.