1 in 50 Singaporeans are now really, really rich

Singapore's high and growing population of millionaires means the city state can now hold its own alongside the wealth hubs of the world such as Monaco, Zurich and New York.

According to a new study by WealthInsight and Spear's, Monaco is the city with the highest density of millionaires, with almost one third of the population classed as one. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the Swiss cities of Zurich and Geneva follow in second and third place, with 27% and 17% of their populations respectively being millionaires.

Singapore comes in at eighth place - the only Asian city in the top 10 - with 2.8% of the population being classified as a millionaire.

The study identifies millionaires as being individuals with net assets of US$1 million or more - but excludes primary residences.

These findings are similar to a recent report by CapGemini and the Royal Bank of Canada, which found the number of high net worth individuals (HNWI) in Singapore rose by 4.5% last year – meaning the number of Singapore’s millionaires increased to 105,100 from 100,500 the previous year.

In the rankings, the second Asian country featured is Hong Kong (11th place) where 2.58% of the population are millionaires.

WealthInsight Analyst Oliver Williams said wealthy individuals care about these rankings, as they will "change their home and even their domicile based on these factors".

"Favourable tax and outstanding location are important criteria for attracting clusters of millionaires, but so too is ready access to wealth managers and private banks."

The top 10 cities by millionaire density:

1. Monaco (29.21%)2. Zurich (27.34%)3. Geneva (17.92%)4. New York (4.63%)5. Frankfurt (3.88%)6. London (3.39%)7. Oslo (2.90%)8. Singapore (2.80%)9. Amsterdam (2.63%)10. Florence (2.59%)

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