New York Stock Exchange on April 14, 2025.
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A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter by Robert Frank, a weekly guide for high-net-worth investors and consumers. Sign up to receive future editions directly to your inbox.
Nearly 1 million people will become billionaires in 2025, thanks in large part to a thriving stock market, according to a new UBS report.
The Swiss bank estimates that the United States accounts for almost half of these newly minted millionaires, adding an average of more than 1,200 new millionaires a day last year, an annual increase of about 441,000.
Rising stock markets led to a 10.8% rise in global personal wealth, the biggest increase since 2017 and more than double between 2024 and 2023, according to UBS research. However, this strong growth was confirmed by the fact that median wealth has declined in most of the 56 markets monitored by UBS, indicating that wealth inequality is widening.
In the United States, for example, median wealth per adult fell by nearly 20% from 2020 to 2025, but average wealth, net of inflation, rose by about 10% over the same period, the bank’s data analysis found.
UBS estimates that the world’s billionaire population, which the bank estimates to be 58 million, owns almost half of the world’s wealth, or about $250.6 trillion.
James Mazo, an economist at UBS, told CNBC that the wealthy made more money last year than the general population because of their greater exposure to financial markets, noting that the U.S. stock market was up about 18% in 2025.
“As you move up the wealth ladder, more of your wealth creation tends to be tied to business performance, investment portfolios, or both,” Mazo said at a media conference.
These benefits also vary by billionaire class. The bank estimates that the total assets of so-called everyday millionaires, individuals worth between $1 million and $5 million, have soared 170% since 2000, net of inflation. Over the same period, the total wealth of wealthier groups soared by 343%.
The total net worth of the world’s billionaires soared nearly 25% in the year ending April, according to UBS. However, the report notes that much of this increase is due to an increase in the number of billionaires, and not just members of the Three Comma Club getting richer.
The weaker US dollar last year also contributed to the discrepancy in global wealth creation, as the Bank tracks wealth in US dollars. The US billionaire population, which remains the world’s largest, grew only slightly by 1.9% in 2025, while most European and Middle Eastern markets saw higher percentage increases, including Turkey (6.4%) and the United Arab Emirates (3.5%). In terms of combined personal wealth, the Americas’ growth rate was estimated at 8.5%, higher than the 5.9% growth rate in Asia Pacific, but less than half of the 17.5% growth rate in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Mazo said it was too early to predict how the Iran war would affect wealthy people in the Middle East. Asset allocation and currency trends are two of the many factors that determine your results.
“It really depends on what proportion of international assets these investors represent. For example, if you’re based in the Middle East and most of your assets are tied to US stocks, and you also have a currency pegged to the US dollar, currency movements are not an issue at all,” he said. “We tend to diversify our holdings across other investments, which currently tend to be in currencies that are appreciating against the US dollar, and if we measure things in US dollars, the outlook for 2026 is a little bit better.”
He added that investors may have changed their portfolios as a result of the dispute.
“Will they diversify their holdings? Will they increase their direct investments in the U.S.? How will the unfolding situation change their investment environment, investment philosophy, and asset allocation?” he said. “i don’t know yet.”
