Spain, Portugal, and Greece recorded significant increases in wealth in 2024, according to new data from UBS, based on net wealth in local currency, adjusted for inflation.
As noted in the latest edition of the Swiss bank’s global wealth report (UBS Global Wealth Report 2025), this increase concerns both average and median wealth, indicating that the upward trend is more broadly distributed across all income groups. In fact, in many cases, the increase in median wealth exceeded that of the average, suggesting that middle incomes have strengthened their assets faster than the upper economic strata.
The rise in wealth has been particularly strong since the beginning of the decade. In Portugal, average wealth has increased by almost 10%, while the median increase exceeds 25%. A similar upward trend can be observed in Greece, where a significant portion of the population has seen a substantial increase in their assets over the last two years.
In Greece, wealth remains largely linked to real estate and land. Non-financial assets (housing and land) account for around 75% of gross household wealth, while financial assets (cash, deposits, shares, etc.) account for only 35.2%, which is lower than the European average. Household debt is around 10% in Greece and Portugal, while in Spain it remains below 8%.
Today, according to UBS data, there are an estimated 80,000 millionaires in Greece in US dollar terms, compared to 175,000 in Portugal and over 1.2 million in Spain.
The next big wave of wealth for the three countries is expected to come from intergenerational transfers of wealth in the coming decades. In Greece, total transfers (from parents to children but also between spouses) are estimated to reach up to 40% of total national wealth, higher than in Portugal (26%) and Spain (17%).
Global wealth growth accelerated in 2024
In 2024, global wealth grew by 4.6% after a 4.2% increase in 2023, maintaining a steady upward trend. The pace of growth was far from uniform, skewed heavily toward North America, with the Americas as a whole accounting for the largest share of the increase, at over 11%. The stable US dollar and strong financial markets contributed significantly to this growth.
Both the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) lost ground, with growth rates below 3% and below 0.5% respectively.
The 16th edition of the UBS Global Wealth Report highlights the following regional and demographic trends:
• Adults in North America were the richest on average ($593,347) in 2024, followed by Oceania ($496,696) and Western Europe ($287,688).
• However, measured in US dollars in real terms, more than half of the 56 markets in the sample not only failed to participate in global growth last year, but actually saw their average wealth per adult decline. Nevertheless, Switzerland continued to top the list for average wealth per adult at the individual market level, followed by the United States (US), Hong Kong (SAR), and Luxembourg.
• Denmark, South Korea, Sweden, Ireland, Poland, and Croatia recorded the largest increases in average wealth, all with double-digit growth rates (when measured in local currencies). The number of US dollar millionaires increased by 1.2% in 2024, marking an increase of more than 684,000 people compared to the previous year, with the US adding more than 379,000 new millionaires. That’s more than 1,000 per day.
• The US, mainland China, and France had the largest number of dollar millionaires, with the US accounting for nearly 40% of the world’s millionaires.
• Over the past 25 years, there has been a remarkable and steady increase in wealth across the world, both overall and by major region. Total wealth has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 3.4% since 2000.
• In the current decade, the wealth bracket below US$10,000 ceased to be the most populous in the sample, as it was surpassed by the next highest bracket between US$10,000 and US$100,000.
• Over the next five years, the report’s projections for average wealth per adult show continued growth. This expansion will be led by the US, as well as broader China, Latin America, and Oceania.
