Global household wealth falls in 2011-2012. Worldwide household wealth, in the sense of financial assets and real estate owned by households, fell by 5.2% in dollars between the summer of 2011 and the summer of 2012, according to the Global Wealth Report published by Crédit Suisse Research Institute. This is the first fall since the 2007-2008 financial crisis and it is particularly sharp in Europe, where the total drop in household wealth was US$ 10.9 billion. This is by far the biggest contribution to the fall worldwide; which was US$12.3 billion. The Asia-Pacific region is the other great loser, with wealth falling by some US$ 1.4 billion. Economic uncertainty in the eurozone is one of the reasons for this, along with the rising value of the dollar against other currencies. Crédit Suisse says that households are getting further into debt with debt as a proportion of wealth now starting as between 20% and 30% in advanced economies, 81% higher than in 2002. The top ten countries around the world in terms of average wealth per adult in 2012 are 1. Switzerland (US$468,186); 2. Australia (US$354,986); 3. Norway (US$325,989); 4. Luxembourg (US$277,119); 5. Japan (US$269,708); 6. France (US$265,463); 7. the United States (US$262,351); 8. Singapore (US$258,117); 9. the United Kingdom (US$250,005); 10. Sweden (US$237,297). Over the next five years, global wealth is expected to grow by 50% to US$330 billion and the number of dollar millionaires around the world is expected to rise from the current 18 million to 46 million by 2017. The United States will be top of the league table with global wealth US$89 billion and the European continent will have about the same total wealth (but 16 million more inhabitants). China will overtake Japan to become the world's second richest country, with wealth of US$18 billion. (IL/transl.fl)