Germany has the third largest collection of multi-millionaires in the world and Frankfurt has the single biggest collection of them, while Munich is expected to chalk up the quickest growth of this group, new research says.

There are a total of 1,868 ultra high net worth individuals in Frankfurt, making up 16.4 per cent of all UHNW individuals in Germany, with Munich in second place, at 1,113 (9.8 per cent) and Hamburg in third, with 843 such persons (7.4 per cent), according to WealthInsight.

Behind the top three are, in descending order: Düsseldorf; Berlin; Stuttgart; Cologne; Hanover; Essen, and Bonn.

Between 2007 and last year, the number of UHNW individuals actually fell in Frankfurt, however, by 6.2 per cent; Munich logged the fastest gain, at 30.2 per cent. Another notable gainer was Essen (23.1 per cent), while the biggest drop was by Berlin, down 16.4 per cent, the figures showed.

Looking ahead, the sharpest rise for any city in terms of UHNW population is expected to be Munich, at 25 per cent, the report said.

In total, there were 11,392 UHNW individuals in Europe’s biggest economy at the end of 2011 (measured by persons with at least $30 million of net assets). Their combined wealth stood at $1.3 trillion, WealthInsight said.

Perhaps as indicative of their poorer status and a hangover from the Cold War era, not a single former East German city made it into the top 29 for cities and UHNW persons.

As far as high net worth individuals are concerned (those with at least $1 million of net assets), Germany has the fourth highest number of such persons globally after the US, Japan and China. There are 1,253,000 such people in Germany, with their combined wealth of $3.9 trillion making up 36 per cent of total German wealth.