Number of dollar millionaires in Germany rises to around 2.6 million

"In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the increase was above average – at 17.5 percent." The Asia-Pacific region recorded a gain of 5.9 percent. The Americas fell in between. Almost half of the global increase in millionaires was attributable to the USA.

Number of millionaires in Germany

More than half of global private wealth is concentrated in the USA and China, it said. Following the USA in terms of growth in new dollar millionaires were China, Japan, Germany, Great Britain and France. "Almost half of them in the USA," wrote the news agency dpa-AFX.

Germany belongs, alongside China, Japan, Great Britain and France, to the countries with more than two million millionaires each. In Germany, 3.9 percent of adults owned at least one million dollars, accounting for around 46 percent of total private wealth in Germany.

In terms of average wealth per adult, Germany ranks 14th, with an average of around 304,000 euros or 346,613 dollars per capita. The top spot is held by Switzerland with 910,382 dollars (798,160.62 euros) per adult, followed by the USA and Luxembourg.

Average and distribution

According to UBS, the regional differences are partly attributable to the depreciation of the US dollar, which has mathematically amplified wealth gains outside the USA. One million dollars corresponds to around 880,000 euros according to the report.

"A small group of particularly wealthy individuals can easily drive up the average prosperity of an entire nation and thereby create the impression that residents are better off than is actually the case," UBS warned. In the background of the report is the note: "Wealth generates returns – and those returns in turn create new wealth."

The average figure would be reached, for example, if five people had only 3,000 euros in wealth and five people had 605,000 euros. This juxtaposition illustrates the distorting effect that individual peak fortunes have on the statistical mean.

Inequality and distributional impact

The gap between rich and poor is widening further according to UBS's assessment. The poorer half of the world's population owns just one percent of global wealth. Almost ten percent of Germans, by contrast, had less than 10,000 dollars in wealth last year.

UBS also pointed out that geopolitical tensions, trade disputes, wars and energy crises are shaping world affairs, and wealthy private individuals are actively exploiting this situation. "This situation is actively exploited by investors and wealthy private individuals. They buy and sell their investments at an increased pace, reshuffle their portfolios, realize gains and thus increase their wealth."

Consequently, major banks such as UBS and the US bank JPMorgan posted record revenues in recent quarters. Wealth is also heavily concentrated in Switzerland: the richest one percent of the population owns around 45 percent of taxable wealth.

Role of the financial system

By median, the USA, on the other hand, ranks far down the global list. The average wealth per capita also includes real estate, which UBS likewise points out. The total wealth per adult in Germany is therefore not directly equivalent to disposable income.

"However, wealth is not growing at the same pace everywhere. This is shown by the current UBS Global Wealth Report," the analysis summarizes. The report is the central data source for annual wealth distribution in more than fifty countries.

The news was broadcast on 30.06.2026 on Deutschlandfunk; the underlying analysis comes from the UBS Global Wealth Report 2026. An assessment was provided by SRF business editor Sven Zaugg.

A small group of particularly rich people can easily drive up the average prosperity of a nation and create the impression that residents are better off than is actually the case, it said in the report.

Contextualizing the data

It is particularly in the upper wealth bracket that the increase is disproportionately high: "Gains were recorded primarily in the segments above five million dollars." This further reinforces the unequal distribution.

For Germany, this means a growing number of people above the million-dollar threshold alongside an unchanged strong concentration of total wealth among a few percent of the population.

The UBS data thus paint a nuanced picture: while the number of millionaires in Germany is rising, wealth distribution overall remains very unequal according to the report.

"Globally, almost one million people rose to millionaire status (in US dollars), almost half of them in the USA." This shift also shapes the global wealth structure.