Rapid Growth Seen In Ranks Of Poland's Millionaires - Study

Tom Burroughes

17 December 2012

It is a country that tends not to get much attention as a wealth management hotspot, but a new report argues that the number of high net worth individuals in Poland is set to rise 40 per cent between now and 2017, reaching 39,687 by that date.

HNW individuals in the country hold £139 billion of wealth, equal to around 16 per cent of all the wealth held by the East European nation; in 2012, the number of HNW individuals rose 11.8 per cent from a year ago, according to WealthInsight, the research firm.

Warsaw, the nation’s capital, is home to around a third of the country’s millionaires, the report said.

By way of background, WealthInsight noted that the Polish economy fared relatively well in the recent financial crisis, being the only European Union member state to escape a drop in gross domestic product between 2008 and 2009. Even so, economic conditions in Poland have been challenging; between 2007 and 2012, the population of HNW individuals fell 16 per cent, the report said.

“Core millionaires” – what the report counts as persons with between $1 million and $30 million – account for 98 per cent of HNW individuals in Poland and HNW Polish wealth.

The share of HNW individuals of total Polish wealth – 16 per cent – is relatively low by international standards, where the average share by millionaires of total wealth is 29 per cent, which suggests considerable upside potential for this grouping, the report said.

Entrepreneurs account up 58 per cent of the HNW population; inherited wealth, on the other hand, makes up just 7.5 per cent of such wealth.