The Hurun Research Institute and China CITIC Bank Private Banking have jointly published a report titled "Going Global: Trends of Chinese High Net Worth Individuals 2016," National Business Daily reported on Nov 7.
The report shows that as of May 2016, there were 1.34 million multimillionaires in the Chinese mainland, 10.7 percent more than last year. Of these, 89,000 are billionaires, up 14.1 percent from last year.
According to data from China's National Bureau of Statistics, the country's total population was about 1.368 billion at the end of 2014. Multimillionaires (billionaires included) now make up about 0.1 percent of the total population.
Guangdong province replaced Beijing to become the place with the most multimillionaires this year. There are about 240,000 people in Guangdong with assets worth more than 10 million yuan ($1.47 million). Guangdong is followed by Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang province. The country's 843,000 high net worth individuals account for 63 percent of the nation's multimillionaires.
Though outpaced by Guangdong in overall numbers, Beijing is the city with the highest density of multimillionaires. There are 1.1 multimillionaires for every 100 people. Shanghai, Jilin province and Zhejiang province follow Beijing for multimillionaire density.
Wealthy individuals have more diverse and flexible options when it comes to assets allocation. One of the most prominent trends this year is multimillionaires investing overseas. Indeed, the Hurun list revealed that nearly 50 percent of multimillionaires plan to continue investing overseas. In addition to foreign exchange deposits, insurance products are also a favored investment choice.