The global wealth landscape is in constant flux, marked by significant disparities and evolving national trends. A recent comprehensive analysis from UBS’s Global Wealth Report 2025 illuminates a dynamic shift in real wealth per adult, adjusted for inflation, revealing both remarkable growth and notable contractions across different economies. Understanding these movements necessitates a focus beyond simple averages, delving instead into median wealth figures. This approach provides a more accurate picture by mitigating the distorting effect of extreme outliers, thereby offering deeper insights into the economic well-being of the broader population.
- Between 2023 and 2024, most European countries saw an increase in median wealth per adult, led by Hungary (18.6%) and Lithuania (16.9%).
- Turkey experienced the sharpest decline in median wealth during the same period, contracting by 20.9%, primarily due to a correction of asset prices.
- Over the longer term (2020-2024), the U.S. recorded substantial median wealth growth of 45.8%, while Austria saw a significant 18% decline.
- Professor Hakan Kara attributes Turkey’s wealth contraction to the normalization of interest rates following a period of credit-fueled asset price inflation from 2020 to 2022.
- Analyzing both median and average wealth is crucial, as their divergence highlights differing wealth accumulation rates across various population segments and the impact of inflation and demographic shifts.
Recent Shifts in European Wealth (2023-2024)
Between 2023 and 2024, the majority of European nations experienced an uptick in median wealth per adult. Hungary spearheaded this growth with an impressive 18.6% rise, closely followed by Lithuania at 16.9%, Sweden at 15.3%, and both Italy and Latvia, each recording a 15% increase. Conversely, only two countries among EU member states, candidate countries, EFTA members, and the UK observed declines. Turkey registered a sharp 20.9% drop in median wealth, while Belgium experienced a more moderate fall of 5.6%. Among Europe’s five largest economies, Italy recorded the highest real growth at 15%, significantly outperforming the UK, which saw the lowest growth at 5.3%. France (10.3%), Germany (9.5%), and Spain (9%) posted moderate increases. Switzerland, long considered Europe’s wealthiest nation per adult, reported a 7.7% increase, with other Nordic countries also exceeding 10% growth. Beyond Europe, South Korea (13.9%), Australia (10.7%), Canada (9.6%), and Japan (8.6%) marked significant gains, while the U.S. saw a more modest 2.3% increase. China and Russia, however, recorded declines of 6.3% and 8.2% respectively in median wealth.
Turkey’s Wealth Contraction: A Deeper Dive
The significant decline in Turkey’s wealth per adult warrants closer examination. Professor Hakan Kara of Bilkent University, a former chief economist at the Central Bank of Turkey, attributes this trend to underlying economic dynamics observed over the preceding five years. He explains that between 2020 and 2023, an environment characterized by abundant credit and exceptionally low real interest rates fueled a substantial surge in asset prices. This period facilitated a considerable transfer of wealth from savers to borrowers and from fixed-income households to corporations, a dynamic further reinforced by the Foreign Exchange Protected Deposit scheme (KKM). As wealth inequality intensified, only a limited segment of the population, primarily those with access to credit or pre-existing savings, could truly capitalize on the asset price boom. By mid-2023, with the normalization of interest rates, a real correction in asset prices began, leading to a corresponding erosion of real wealth as housing, land, stock, and bond prices declined in real terms. Professor Kara views the 2023-2024 period as a necessary correction of the preceding 2020-2022 trends, aligning the market more closely with fundamental economic realities.
Longer-Term Trends: Five-Year Wealth Changes (2020-2024)
Analyzing real changes in median wealth per adult from the beginning of 2020 to the end of 2024 reveals broader, longer-term patterns that transcend immediate year-over-year fluctuations. Austria stands out as a major outlier, experiencing an 18% fall in median wealth per adult. The Netherlands (-2.3%) and Estonia (-0.1%) also recorded declines. In stark contrast, Cyprus recorded the highest increase in Europe at 43.9%, followed by Denmark, Latvia, and Lithuania, each with gains exceeding 30%. Real median wealth per adult also grew by over 25% in Malta, Slovenia, Norway, Bulgaria, and Portugal. Within Europe’s top five economies, Germany saw the highest rise at 20.1%, while Italy recorded the lowest at 4.7%. Spain (17.8%) and the UK (16.3%) showed strong growth, and France experienced a moderate increase of 10.5%. Globally, major non-European countries reported significant median wealth growth, with the U.S. leading at 45.8%, followed by Russia (35.1%) and South Korea (31%).
Understanding Divergences: Median Versus Average Wealth
While median wealth offers a more democratic view by representing the wealth of the typical individual, average wealth provides another critical dimension, and their divergence can be striking. In several countries, changes in average and median wealth per adult differed significantly, signaling varied impacts across the wealth spectrum. For instance, Switzerland saw slightly negative growth in average wealth per adult compared to a notable 14% rise in median wealth. Similarly, Italy reported an average decline of 10% versus an almost 5% increase in median wealth. These disparities suggest a slower wealth accumulation at the higher end of the spectrum compared to the middle section of the wealth distribution. The report notes that contractions in real average wealth were often attributable to high inflation, particularly evident in Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and to a lesser extent in Italy. The growth in the adult population also contributed to these trends, notably in the Netherlands and, to a smaller degree, in Switzerland, where currency depreciation was also a primary factor. This emphasizes the critical importance of analyzing both median and average figures to grasp the nuanced shifts in a nation’s wealth distribution and the economic factors influencing various segments of its population.
Michael Zhang is a seasoned finance journalist with a background in macroeconomic analysis and stock market reporting. He breaks down economic data into easy-to-understand insights that help you navigate today’s financial landscape.