Millionaires' club continues to grow throughout world. - There are now 17 million millionaire households on the planet (with financial assets, not including real estate, in excess of $1 million), according to the latest figures of the Boston Consulting Group. Put together, these families share 41% of global wealth. This is 2 million more than in 2013, or an increase of +16% in a single year. Most of these families are in the United States (7 million households), followed by China (4 million) and Japan (1 million). The density of millionaires is highest in Switzerland, with 13.5% of households, followed by Bahrain (12.3%), Qatar (11.6%) and Singapore (10.7). The numbers of “ultrarich” (with assets in excess of $100 million) has also grown, rising by 11% in a year. These families concentrate $10,000 billion in financial assets between them. More broadly, looking at all levels of wealth, the financial savings of households has grown by 12% in a year, to $164,000 billion, at the same pace of growth as the previous year, according to the Boston Consulting Group. There are, however, some nuances, with considerable differences between countries: the mature economies (North America, Europe, Japan) benefited first and foremost from the recovery of the stock exchange markets. In the emerging countries, savings were driven by the creation of wealth. Of all regions of the world, Asia-Pacific is the most worthy of note: already the second wealthiest region of the world, with $47,300 billion in financial assets (+29.4% compared to 2013), after North America ($50,800 billion; +5.6%), Asia-Pacific (not including Japan) is growing very quickly and, this year, raced ahead of Western Europe ($39,600 billion; +6.6%). According to the study, however, annual growth is expected to slow down in this area, to around 10%, but will still make faster progress than the rest of the world. It is therefore predicted that Asia-Pacific will have overtaken North America in four years' time. By then, it is predicted to have accumulated $75,000 billion in wealth, compared to $62,500 billion on the other side of the Atlantic. Other dynamic regions of the world, such as Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe, are expected to follow suit and their households will grow wealthier by around 10% a year, compared to just over 4% in the mature economies. Western Europe, which is in third place, is expected to see its share of the wealth dwindle from 24% today to 22% in four years. (Isabelle Lamberty)