Wealth-X, a research company which specialises in ultra-wealthy individuals, has ranked Germany as Europe’s top country in terms of the size of its ultra high net worth population.

The firm’s first annual ranking of the most popular UHNW European cities found that Germany and Switzerland have a more dispersed concentration of ultra-wealthy inhabitants compared to the UK and France, with Germany home to 15,925 UHNW individuals.

The report is significant at a time when Germany - along with other large industrialised nations - has been battling to prevent an exodus of wealth to jurisdictions such as Switzerland. The country recently signed an account disclosure agreement with Switzerland, as did the UK.

“While Germany has the largest population of UHNW individuals in Europe, 50 per cent more than in the UK, London hosts more UHNW individuals than Munich, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Frankfurt combined, thanks to a favourable environment for the ultra affluent, including those who are non-domiciled,” said Mykolas Rambus, chief executive of Wealth-X.

“This inaugural Wealth-X ranking of the European cities most popular with UHNW individuals will enable private wealth managers, not-for-profits and luxury brands to better devise strategies to efficiently and effectively deploy sales and marketing resources to reach this much-sought-after community,” he said.  

London, which represents over half of the UK’s 10,450 UHNW individuals, is now Europe’s top city with regards to its UHNW population, with 5,955 individuals having a net worth of at least $30 million.

The number of UHNW individuals in London has tipped the UK into being Europe’s second highest ultra-wealthy country in terms of individual affluence. Switzerland comes third, followed by France, Italy and Spain.

This finding reflects a recent Knight Frank report, which revealed that the price threshold for London’s residential developments is set to reach £10,000 ($16,000) per square foot by 2016.

The ten cities with the largest UHNW population in Europe, in descending order, are: London (5,955), Paris (2,820), Zurich (1,775), Munich (1,450); Geneva (1,335), Dusseldorf (1,335), Hamburg (1,310), Rome (1,140), Frankfurt (1,100) and Madrid (1,060).