South Africa, Ethiopia And Nigeria See Explosive Growth In Millionaires

Sandra Kilhof

4 December 2013

Africa is slowly but surely becoming the new frontier for wealth, as economic growth continues to prosper in several of the developing economies and more and more financial services firms emerge across the continent, new figures show.

A new report shows that South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria have tens of thousands of millionaires, while other countries like Ethiopia and Ghana are climbing the wealth statistics. According to an analysis of the African high net worth community by New World Wealth, an Oxford-based wealth consultancy, Ethiopia has been the fastest growing African market for millionaires over the past six years followed by Angola, Tanzania, Zambia and then Ghana.

The study focuses on HNW performance between the end of 2007 (the peak before the global financial crisis) and 2013 and only included African countries with over 800 millionaires in 2013. In this respect, the high net worth individuals refer to individuals with net assets of $1 million or more excluding their primary residences.

Not surprising, the study revealed that South Africa comes out on top in a top 10 ranking of African countries for millionaires, with 48,700 HNW individuals in 2013, followed by Egypt with 22,800 and Nigeria with 15,700.

Looking ahead, the report also suggests that South Africa will be in the lead in 2030 while Nigeria will have a boom in millionaires and jump to second place. In terms of growth rate forecasts, the Ivory Coast comes out on top with growth in the amount of local millionaires of 243 per cent between 2013 and 2030. Zambia ranks second with 200 per cent growth followed by Ghana and then Ethiopia.

In terms of GDP per capita growth, Ethiopia tops the list with growth of 93 per cent between 2007 and 2012. The report did however note that the country starts from a very low base, “so the growth is somewhat expected”.

“Ethiopia is one of the largest countries in Africa in terms of population with over 85 million inhabitants and we expect it to become one of the 10 largest African wealth markets by 2030,” New World Wealth said in the report.

Similarly, the study also forecasts that the Ivory Coast will experience strong economic growth over the next five years, making it a potential breeding ground for new millionaires.