SEOUL: Seoul saw the steepest decline in the world’s 50 wealthiest cities ranking last year, according to a report released by a British wealth intelligence firm.
According to the report by British investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners and wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth, the number of millionaires residing in Seoul stood at 66,000 — down from 82,500 the previous year, as of December 2023.
Seoul fell five spots in the rankings to 24th place, marking the largest drop among all 50 cities listed.
The report defined a millionaire as someone with investable liquid assets exceeding US$1 million, including publicly listed equities, cash holdings and cryptocurrency.
Real estate assets were excluded from the calculation.
The number of centimillionaires in Seoul — those with at least $100 million in investable assets — also declined from 195 to 148.
Over the past decade, the growth rate of millionaires in Seoul was just 17 percent, a notable decrease from the 28 percent growth rate recorded in the previous report, covering 2013 to 2023.
The report highlighted the depreciation of the Korean won last year as a key factor in the decline, noting also that “political instability and public protests have undoubtedly played a significant role” in driving this trend.
New York City topped the list of the world’s wealthiest cities, with 384,500 millionaires, followed by the San Francisco Bay Area (342,400), Tokyo (292,300), Singapore (242,400), and Los Angeles (220,600).
London, with 215,700 millionaires, fell out of the top five for the first time, likely due to factors including the growing dominance of US tech, Brexit and high taxation. - The Korean Herald/ANN
