The Facts
- According to the latest Global Wealth Report published by Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS on Tuesday, the number of adults with more than $1M in assets fell by 3.5M to 59.4M worldwide in 2022.
- About 1.8M, or 51% of the people who lost their millionaire status, were in the US. However, it still has far more millionaires than any other country at 22.7M, or about 38.2% of the world's total.
- The decline results from global wealth falling for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, primarily due to high inflation and the collapse of global currencies.
Sources Split
LEFT
CENTER
RIGHT
ESTAB
CRIT
CENTER
PRO
ESTAB
The Spin
Narrative A
For a small minority of the world's super-rich, 2022 was a year to forget, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine supposedly forced central banks across the globe to raise interest rates that caused high inflation. However, let's not forget that a new billionaire was born every 30 hours on average during COVID, while over 160M more people were forced into poverty. If the world's top 1% lost 99.99% of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be more prosperous than the remaining 99%. Redistribution through taxation is vital.
Narrative B
Taxing the overall wealth of the world's richest people won't actually help with redistribution, but would rather reduce the amount of capital available for investments and impede economic productivity. Instead, as has worked in Europe, rich countries should tax the consumption of these wealthy individuals. While it may be difficult to transition to such a system in a place like the US, it's a far better option than ruining economic opportunity for the middle and lower classes.
Metaculus Prediction
© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 7.18.0