There are some real millionaires in the UK these days. Opulence, fame and fabulous wealth are just some of the words linked to some of the wealthiest people in the land, with the UK still leading the way as one of the most popular places on earth to be a millionaire. Do you know who they are? If so, how many know them personally? With so much money about, how many millionaires are there in Britain today? We all want to know!
In this article I included a list of the top ten richest men and women who have fortunes worth billions or trillions of dollars in the uk, which by today’s standards would be counted as one of the largest net worths. But First…
London has more dollar millionaires than New York
London has overtaken New York as home to the highest concentration of dollar millionaires in the world, according to a report that reveals how much money the very richest people in the world have made during the coronavirus pandemic.
Nearly 875,000 Londoners are dollar millionaires (denoting assets worth more than £720,000), according to an annual study of the fortunes of the world’s wealthiest people by the property consultants Knight Frank.
It means one in 10 people living in London are dollar millionaires, with the data highlighting the yawning inequality gap in the capital. More than 2.5 million (or 28%) of those living in London are classed as “living in poverty”, according to government figures.
The report shows that 874,354 people in London have assets, including property, worth more than $1m, which makes them so-called “high net worth individuals” (HNWIs). That compares with 820,000 in New York, in second place.
Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s global head of research, said the high cost of housing in the capital had tipped many people into the HNWI category. “The main point is that our HNWI threshold is $1m, so £720,000, and with average house prices in London at £514,000, a lot of households fall into the HNWI category,” he said. “Ironically, the high cost of housing in London is the main driver for categorising so many households as being wealthy.”
Bailey dismissed other reports suggesting an exodus from London for the countryside because remote working during lockdowns enables people to base themselves anywhere for work.
The research found that London had the most so-called “prime” homes of any city in the world, with more than 68,000 units valued at more than £2m each. There have been a flurry of super-rich property sales during the pandemic as rich overseas investors exploit the drop in the value of the pound and tax advantages thrown as a result of Brexit.
London was also named the rich person’s city of choice for lifestyle, according to Knight Frank’s survey of what wealthy people demand from cities such as Michelin-starred restaurants, opera houses and theatres, universities, sports and shopping facilities.
London is said to have also benefitted from an influx of rich Hong Kongers, many of whom left the former British colony amid worries about China’s authoritarian clampdown.
There was a 68% increase in number of so-called golden visas issued last year to people from Hong Kong promising to invest at least £2m in the UK, according to separate research by the City law firm Bates Wells.
London has the highest proportion of people living in low-income households of all regions in the UK, according to Department for Work and Pensions data. Across the capital, 28% of people are said to be “living in poverty” compared with the national average of 22%. That figure rises to 32% for those living in inner London.
The data shows that 800,000 – or 39% – of the capital’s children are living in poverty. It is the highest rate of child poverty since the data first started to be collected in 1994.
The Knight Frank wealth report shows that despite the economic destruction wrought by the pandemic on millions of people with modest incomes, those who were already very rich have been able to increase their fortunes.
More than 6,000 people joined the ranks of the ultra-wealthy last year as those in the top 0.1% were able to increase their already-vast fortunes despite the coronavirus pandemic.
One in 65 UK adults now a millionaire, figures show
The number of millionaires in the UK has shot up by 41% over the past five years, with one in 65 adults now classed as having a seven-figure fortune thanks to booming house prices and stock market gains.
There are now 715,000 millionaires living in Britain compared with 508,000 in 2010, with London having the highest concentration of wealthy individuals.
The capital has 191,000 millionaires, followed by the south-east with 157,000, according to data from the wealth management arm of Barclays bank. Wales had the fewest, with 12,000.
But wealth does not correlate with kindness. The region of the UK with the lowest average annual pay – Northern Ireland – is by far the country’s most charitable, with 45% of households giving to charity, Barclays found. The figure for London was just 28%.
Reading is named as the most prosperous town or city outside the capital, followed by Cambridge and then Birmingham.
The figures are likely to reignite concerns about the north/south divide and income inequality in Britain. Median household incomes have gone up just 2% since 2011, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, yet the number of millionaires continues to surge.
It was revealed this week that more than £42bn was paid out in bonuses in the last tax year, much of it to bankers in the City, where payouts have returned to within a whisker of their 2007-08 peak.
Rampant house price inflation in the capital is behind much of the surge in London millionaire numbers. One in 45 London residents are millionaires, compared with one in 255 in Wales.
Property website Zoopla currently lists about 9,400 homes for sale in London for more than £1m, compared with 52 in the whole of Scotland. A terraced home for sale in Leyton, a relatively down-at-heel part of east London, is on the market for £1.1m, or more than twice the current asking price for a 40-bedroom Victorian mansion leading to a beach in Ross-shire, Scotland.
But Barclays ranked towns and cities not just on wealth but also other indicators such as business startups, school exam grades and unemployment to create a “prosperity map” of Britain.
.The research showed that every UK region is now more affluent than it was five years ago, with north-east England enjoying the biggest improvement.
Akshaya Bhargava, chief executive of Barclays wealth and investment Management, said: “Although the north-east currently registers low on the prosperity index, the region has grown faster than the national average in the past five years. The 50% rise in the number of millionaires living in the north-east is the joint-largest increase of any region in the UK along with Wales. The north-east also has a thriving entrepreneurial scene, second only to London.”
Top Ten Richest Persons in the UK
With a net worth of roughly £23 billion, Sir Leonard Blavatnik, the Ukranian-born oil and media magnate, is the richest person in the United Kingdom, followed by David and Simon Reuben (No. 2, £21.465 billion), Sri and Gopi Hinduja (No. 3, £17 billion); and Sir James Dyson (No. 4, £16.3 billion).
Sir Leonard Blavatnik, a dual UK-US citizen, was born in Ukraine and his company owns most of Warner Music as well as interests in real estate, chemicals and telecoms. The Reuben brothers (David Reuben and Simon Reuben) came from humble beginnings in London to build a property empire that’s now worth more than £21.465 billion (up £5.465 billion), and stand second on the list.
Lakshmi Mittal is the fifth-richest person in the United Kingdom, with £14.68 billion. Alisher Usmanov ranked 6th with a personal wealth of £13.406 billion, followed by Kirsten and Jorn Rausing with £13 billion. Roman Abramovich is placed 8th with a net worth of £12.101 billion. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho (£12.013 billion) occupied the 9th position on the top 10 richest people in the United Kingdom list, followed by Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston (No. 10, £11 billion).
Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and family have also raked in another £7.899 billion, leaping to fifth with an estimated £14.68 billion fortune. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich made another £1.945 billion to move from 12th to eighth in the table (£12.101 billion).
- Sir Leonard Blavatnik – Investment, music and media – £23 billion, up £7.219 billion
- David and Simon Reuben – Property and internet – £21.465 billion, up £5.465 billion
- Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family – Industry and finance – £17 billion, up £1 billion
- Sir James Dyson and family – Household goods and technology – £16.3 billion, up £100 million
- Lakshmi Mittal and family – Steel – £14.68 billion, up £7.899 billion
- Alisher Usmanov – Mining and investment – £13.406 billion, up £1.726 billion
- Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – Inheritance and investment – £13 billion, up £900 million
- Roman Abramovich – Oil and industry – £12.101 billion, up £1.945 billion
- Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – Inheritance, brewing and banking – £12.013 billion, up £1.713 billion
- Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – Retailing – £11 billion, up £470 million
Conclusion
I am sure everyone wants to be a millionaire. There is not any one who doesn’t want it! But how many of them really became the millionaire? A survey estimate that there are around 110,000 millionaires in Britain. Only 110,000 out of a country which has a population of more than 60 million!