Five countries hold more than 50% of Africa’s wealth, a report by Henley and Partners, a passport, citizenship and global investment-assessment company has revealed.
South Africans, Nigerians, Egyptians, Moroccans and Kenyans have more than half of the continent’s total wealth.
The total private wealth held in Africa is $2.1trn. There are 136,000 high net-worth individuals on the continent. There are 6,700 multimillionaires, 305 centimillionaires and 21 billionaires.
The report which is for 2021 is $100bn higher than what was recorded in 2020 where the private wealth was reported to be $2trn.
The report reveals that South Africans have the greatest wealth on the continent at more than $651bn. Egyptians follow them with $307bn, followed by Nigerians with $228bn in total.
Two South African cities are also dubbed the richest on the continent with Johannesburg holding total private wealth of $239bn, while Cape Town holds a wealth of $131bn.
Cairo and Lagos follow closely at $128bn and $97bn respectively.
South Africa has at least twice more than the number of millionaires (at least $1m) of any country in Africa, according to the report.
Egypt has the highest number of billionaires in Africa including all their assets – properties, cash, equities, and business interests, less any liabilities.
The report also ranks major African countries on a per capital basis with Mauritius ranked as the wealthiest African country, followed by South Africa and Namibia. Nigeria with a wealth per capita of $1,100 is 11th in Africa. Botswana, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Angola and Cote D’Ivoire all have better wealth per capital relative to Nigeria.
The Africa Wealth Report, released in partnership with New World Wealth also reveals the individual wealth in African countries.
The report reviews the wealth sector on the continent and shows high net-worth individuals trends, the luxury sector in Africa and how much wealth is held by individuals and nations.
It also gives insight on the spending habits of Africa’s wealthy individuals, their spending habits, preferences, wealth management and more.
Some of the world’s fastest growing markets are found in Africa and they include Rwanda and Mauritius.
Other than these rising markets, there are wealth hubs on the continent including South Africa and Morocco.
There are at least 10,000 high net worth individuals (individuals worth at least $1m) in Nigeria, making it the third country with the highest amount of private wealth.
South Africa with 39,300 HNWIs and Egypt with 16,900 are the first and second on the list. Kenya has at least 8,000 high net-worth individuals while Morocco has 5,000.
With 2,080 multimillionaires (people with $10m and above), South Africa sits highly on the total private wealth table. Egypt with 880, Nigeria with 510, Morocco with 220, and Kenya with 340 are also high up the list.
Egypt has 7 billionaires, the highest on the continent, South Africa has 5, Nigeria 4, and Morocco 3 are the countries with the highest number of billionaires (in dollars) in Africa.
Tanzania and Angola have one each. Government officials or funds were not considered in the report.