The eurozone crisis has had a deleterious effect on the ultra high net worth populations in the bloc’s core countries, with France and Italy losing at least one UHNW individual every three days since the start of this year, according to new research from Wealth-X.

The research firm, which takes $30 million as its UHNW threshold, estimates that there are now 4,279 UHNW individuals in France, worth a combined $505 billion. Since the publication of the World Wealth Report around a year ago, 121 people have slipped out of the UHNW rankings, representing a 2.8 per cent decrease in the country’s UHNW population. To put the erosion of France’s UHNW population in even starker terms, the country has lost one UHNW individual every two days since the start of 2012.

Meanwhile, Italy’s UHNW population now stands at 2,177 individuals, representing a combined wealth of $285 billion. Since the publication of the World Wealth Report 2011 63 people have slipped from the rankings of the UHNW, meaning that Italy’s super-rich population has also dropped by 2.8 per cent. Since the start of this year Italy has lost one UHNW individual every three days.

As might be expected, the picture is very different for Germany – hailed now more than ever as the economic powerhouse of Europe. While Italy and France UHNW popoulations have dwindled, Germany’s has swollen by 231 new individuals since last year's World Wealth Report – an increase of 1.4 per cent. Germany’s super-wealthy population now stands at 16,156 individuals, who hold a combined $2.16 trillion.

A closer look at France, Italy

According to Wealth-X, the majority (44 per cent) of UHNW individuals in France fall into the lowest tier of super-wealth, holding $30-49 million. The combined wealth of this category stands at a combined $70 billion, representing 14 per cent of the total wealth of the UHNW in France.

Moving up the wealth scale, there are 65 individuals in France worth at least $500-749 million and 395 individuals worth $200-499 million. At the very top of the wealth league, France is home to 15 billionaires, who are worth $8 billion each on average. Small this group may be, but it controls vast swathes of wealth – while it only represents the top 0.4 per cent of France’s UHNW population, these individuals control almost 24 per cent of the total fortune attributable to the ultra wealthy segment.

As with France, in Italy the lowest tier of the UHNW group ($30-49 million) represents the largest section, making up close to 47 per cent of the total super-wealthy population. They have a combined fortune of $35 billion or 12 per cent of the total wealth of Italy’s ultra wealthy population.

In the “mid-table” section, there are 55 individuals in Italy worth at least $500-749 million and 165 individuals worth $200-499 million. Interestingly, given that there are close to double the amount of UHNW in France than in Italy, Wealth-X found that there are 18 billionaires in Italy (compared to 15 in France) and despite the fact that these individuals represent only 0.8 per cent of the UHNW population these individuals control close to 32 per cent of the total fortune attributable to the ultra wealthy segment (France: 24 per cent). The average worth of Italy’s billionaires is around $5 billion each.

Drilling down on Germany

As with Italy and France, the biggest group within Germany’s UHNW population is those individuals worth $30-49 million. Representing 46 per cent of the total UHNW population, they have a combined fortune of $290 billion and control 13 per cent of the total wealth of Germany’s super-rich population.

There are 655 individuals in Germany worth $500-749 million and 1,580 individuals worth $200-499 million. Turning to the billionaire segment, there are 71 such individuals in Germany; these represent the top 0.43 per cent of the UHNW population and control 19 per cent of the total fortune attributable to the ultra-wealthy segment.

UHNW characteristics

Despite the differing pictures for the three countries’ UHNW populations, Wealth-X found that the average age of an UHNW person in all three countries to be about the same (France: 61 years, Italy: 62, Germany: 59). These figures reflect the mature nature of the countries’ economies, the firm said, and they should encourage wealth management firms looking to target the UHNW to focus on wealth transfer and inheritance tax services.

In a further interesting finding, Wealth-X found that despite prevailing preconceptions that wealth in Europe is largely inherited, self-made people actually make a significant proportion of the UHNW populations of all three countries. 

In France 52 per cent of UHNW people are self-made, while 30 per cent have inherited their wealth and 18 per cent represent a combination of the two.

In Italy 44 per cent of UHNW people are self-made, while 39 per cent have inherited their wealth and 17 per cent represent a combination of the two.

Meanwhile, in Germany 40 per cent of UHNW people are self-created, 42 per cent inherited their wealth and 18 per cent got their money through a mixture of the two.