These days, the global flow of wealth is really changing in an interesting way. According to Knight Frank’s latest report, the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals with over $30 million has increased from 550,000 to 710,000 over the past 5 years, with an average of 89 new people joining this group every day.

What’s especially interesting is the leadership behind this growth. The United States still accounts for 41% of newly created ultra-high-net-worth individuals, so it remains dominant, but China’s relative position is weakening. It fell from 18% in 2021 to 17% in 2026, and it seems likely to keep declining. Meanwhile, India is truly surprising—during the same period, the number surged from 12,000 to nearly 20,000, a 63% increase. Its overall share is still around 2.8%, but just looking at the growth rate, it’s definitely notable.

Australia is also a standout market. Given Australia’s population size, it’s astonishing how many wealthy people there are: ultra-high-net-worth individuals are expected to increase by 60% over the next 5 years, reaching the mid-26,000s. In terms of population ratio, that’s roughly 1 ultra-high-net-worth individual per 1,000 people—an extremely high figure. The number of billionaires is also expected to rise by 77%.

Regionally, North America remains strong, accounting for 37% of all ultra-high-net-worth individuals, while Asia-Pacific is catching up at around 31%. The Middle East is also gaining presence, increasing from 2.4% to 3.1%. It seems the future growth drivers will definitely be different. Emerging countries such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Poland, and Vietnam are expected to lead the way—especially Indonesia, which is forecast to grow by 82% (the highest growth rate), while Saudi Arabia is also expected to grow by 183% and Poland by around 123%.

In the end, this means the geographic distribution of wealth is becoming increasingly globalized. The weight is shifting quickly away from traditional economic powerhouses toward fast-growing emerging countries. This kind of change is likely to accelerate even more over the next 5 years, and it really feels like an exciting era is on the way.