Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s largest city Kuala Lumpur has the highest number of millionaires surpassing all other cities of the world, according to a report by international wealth research group WealthInsight.
The city had 13,8000 millionaires or high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in 2013, higher than Abu Dhabi’s 12,500, Cape Town’s 8,753 or Birmingham’s 8,736, WealthInsight said.
The number of millionaires in Kuala Lumpur gives an indicator of Malaysia’s fast-growing wealth at the top end but also suggests an increasing gap between the richest and the rest of the population.
Average annual income in the country stands around Malaysian Ringgit (RM) 20,000 and minimum wage weighs in at RM900 a month.
WealthInsight predicted that Malaysia’s number of millionaires will jump from over 26,000 last year to 30,054 in just four years, with total Malaysian wealth also projected to increase from $151 billion (RM527 billion) to $206 billion (RM719 billion) in the same period.
WealthInsight analyst Tom Carlisle cited the well-performing Malaysian economy during the financial crisis as the reason for the 45.5% hike in new millionaires minted during the 2009 to 2013 period to the total pool of 26,105.
“Since becoming an Islamic banking hub, Malaysia has seen a large surge in investment to its shores, increasing by 52.6% since 2008 to $11.6 billion. Malaysia has also seen a large increase in HNWIs acquiring their wealth in finance as well as in real estate and construction, increasing by 64.8%, 57.2% and 55.1% respectivelyâ€, says Carlisle.
Malaysia is also predicted to have more billionaires (20) in 2018 compared against oil-rich UAE (19), WealthInsight said in its report titled “Millionaires in Malaysia: 26,000 and Countingâ€.
The leading source on the rich and ultra-rich pointed out that Malaysia’s overall wealth was similar to countries with larger populations, including Argentina’s $160 billion, Colombia’s $154 billion and Indonesia’s $206 billion.
Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur has been voted one of the seven most magnificent and incredible cities in the World. The other six were La Paz (Bolivia), Havana (Cuba), Beirut (Lebanon), Doha (Qatar), Vigan (Philippines), and Durban (South Africa).
From a long list of 1200 nominees from 220 countries the list was narrowed down to 28 through qualification and selection process.
Top 28 cities went through three phases of worldwide vote until seven cities were chosen.
The seven cities were chosen based on voting from people using the Internet, smartphone apps, international telephone voting lines and text messaging.
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