Nation's wealthy ranks fourth globally

By Lyu Chang (China Daily) Updated: 2014-06-21 07:17

Asia's millionaire population surpassed that in Europe for the first time in 2009, and in 2011 it edged out North America for the top spot, according to previous editions of the report.

"Surging stock prices really helped many people change from millionaires to billionaires, especially when many start-up companies were looking for IPOs in China," Lu said.

In 2013, the Asia-Pacific region came close in the millionaire race to North America, which still remains the world's wealthiest region, with an increase of 17 percent to reach $14.88 trillion, the report said.

"Overall, 2013 was another strong year for the high net worth market, with surging equity markets and improving economies contributing to double digit growth in both population and wealth levels," said M. George Lewis, group head of RBC Wealth Management & RBC Insurance. "Looking at longer term growth trends, nearly 40 percent of the current level of high net worth wealth has been created in the past five years alone."