Size of personal wealth reached last year $201,9 trillion, Bloomberg reports with reference to Boston Consulting Group. It is 12% higher than in 2016 and the fastest pace in last five years.

Growing equity markets helped to increase wealth, while investors outside the US received additional advantage from weakening dollar compared to other major currencies.

As a result, world millionaires and billionaires own almost half of global personal wealth. Their share was a little bit less than 45% in 2012. In North America that has $86,1 trillion of total wealth, 42% of investable capital is held by people having more than $5 million in assets.

China was a leader last year. Now it takes second place in regards to financial wealth and outpaced Japan in last five years. China follows the US in the list counting number of millionaires and billionaires. The biggest factor is the existence of so called affluent segment that includes people having from $250000 to $1 million of investable assets.

Experts forecasts that tendency will continue and there will be more new millionaires in China than in the US.

Middle East is a region where rich people hold biggest part of their wealth in investable assets ($3,1 trillion out of $3,8 trillion). Western Europe residents hold 56% in currency and deposits, while North America focuses on shares and investment funds, where it invests 62% out of $47 trillion of investable wealth.

If wealth growth pace stays the same as in the past few year, then annual increase will be about 7% from 2017 to 2020 in US dollars, Boston Consulting predicts. Such events as market correction and geopolitical instability might reduce this rate to 4%. In worst case of global financial crisis it will decline to 1% only.