Skandia Investment, part of Old Mutual Wealth, asked over 5000 consumers across 13 territories: “How much personal annual net income would you need to earn for you to be really happy?” and found that Singapore and Hong Kong residents had the second and third highest levels of income aspirations, averaging $227,563 and $197,702 respectively.

The company’s “Wealth Sentiment Survey” revealed that respondents from Dubai topped the list, requiring over one quarter of a million dollars ($276,150) per year to be “really happy”.

The highest levels of people “feeling wealthy” were recorded in Brazil (25 per cent), followed by Austria (24 per cent), Dubai (22.9 per cent) and Germany (22 per cent), Skandia Investment said.

Some 15.8 per cent of Hong Kong- and 12.3 per cent of Singapore-based respondents consider themselves “wealthy”. And to reach this status they respectively feel that an individual must be worth $2.91 million and $2.46 million.

These figures come close to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s definition of a High Net Worth individual, recently revised upwards, classifying an individual owning at least $3 million of investable assets. The HKMA reviewed the definition which lenders use to catergorise private bank customers in June this year, as a measure of preventing inexperienced wealthy individuals from committing to high-risk investment vehicles.