Oct 15 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
'India has just 3% of global middle class'
Kounteya Sinha
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London:
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Credit Suisse's Global Wealth Report 2014 released on Tuesday said that there are one billion adults at present who belong to the middle class, with wealth in the range of $10,000 $100,000.However, according to the report, India has just 3% of the global middle class, and that share has changed very little during the past decade.
In contrast, China's share of the middle class has doubled since 2000 and now covers one-third of the global membership, 10 times the share of India. Presently India has 31.4 million middle class households (160 million individuals). The report said that the total global household wealth increased in current dollar terms to $263 trillion, or $56,000 per adult in the world, an all-time high for average net worth.
Aggregate household wealth has more than doubled since the start of the millennium from $117 trillion in 2000 to $263 trillion in mid-2014. Over the same period, personal wealth in India and China has risen by a factor of 3.1% and 4.6% respectively . Allowing for the rise in the adult population, global net worth per adult has increased by 77% from 2000, an average growth rate of 4.3% per annum. While wealth has been rising strongly in India, and the ranks of the middle class and wealthy have been swelling, not everyone has shared in this growth. This is reflected in the fact that 95% of the adult population has wealth below $10,000.
A very small proportion of the population (just 0.3%) has a net worth over $100,000.
However, due to India’s large population, this translates into 2.4 million people. India has 238,000 members in the top 1% of global wealth holders, which equates to a 0.5% share. India will also see a 61% increase in the number of millionaires between 2014 and 2019 – from 182 now to 294. For the first time this year, over 400 million adults globally have wealth above $100,000, against 217 million at the start of the century.
In contrast, China's share of the middle class has doubled since 2000 and now covers one-third of the global membership, 10 times the share of India. Presently India has 31.4 million middle class households (160 million individuals). The report said that the total global household wealth increased in current dollar terms to $263 trillion, or $56,000 per adult in the world, an all-time high for average net worth.
Aggregate household wealth has more than doubled since the start of the millennium from $117 trillion in 2000 to $263 trillion in mid-2014. Over the same period, personal wealth in India and China has risen by a factor of 3.1% and 4.6% respectively . Allowing for the rise in the adult population, global net worth per adult has increased by 77% from 2000, an average growth rate of 4.3% per annum. While wealth has been rising strongly in India, and the ranks of the middle class and wealthy have been swelling, not everyone has shared in this growth. This is reflected in the fact that 95% of the adult population has wealth below $10,000.
A very small proportion of the population (just 0.3%) has a net worth over $100,000.
However, due to India’s large population, this translates into 2.4 million people. India has 238,000 members in the top 1% of global wealth holders, which equates to a 0.5% share. India will also see a 61% increase in the number of millionaires between 2014 and 2019 – from 182 now to 294. For the first time this year, over 400 million adults globally have wealth above $100,000, against 217 million at the start of the century.
