---
title: "Nearly a Million New Millionaires Were Minted in 2025, UBS Says"
description: "Global personal wealth rose 10.8% in 2025 and created close to a million new dollar millionaires, with the United States alone adding more than 440,000 — nearly half the world's total — according to UBS's annual Global Wealth Report. But typical households fared less well: median wealth fell in most countries."
category: "Economy"
category_url: https://boursel.com/category/economy
author: "Sofia Marchetti"
published: 2026-07-02T14:45:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-02T14:45:00.000Z
canonical: https://boursel.com/article/nearly-a-million-new-millionaires-were-minted-in-2025-ubs-says
tags: ["wealth", "millionaires", "inequality", "ubs", "stock-market"]
---
# Nearly a Million New Millionaires Were Minted in 2025, UBS Says

Global personal wealth rose 10.8% in 2025 and created close to a million new dollar millionaires, with the United States alone adding more than 440,000 — nearly half the world's total — according to UBS's annual Global Wealth Report. But typical households fared less well: median wealth fell in most countries.

A booming year for markets did what booming markets do: it made a lot of already-wealthy people wealthier — and turned nearly a million of them into millionaires.

Global personal wealth **rose 10.8% in 2025**, the fastest pace in at least three years, and the world minted close to **one million new dollar millionaires** — more than 2,600 a day — [according to UBS's Global Wealth Report 2026](https://www.ubs.com/global/en/media/display-page-ndp/en-20260630-gwr-2026.html). The total number of millionaires worldwide now stands at roughly **57.5 million**.

## America led the way

The United States accounted for **nearly half** of the new millionaires, adding **more than 440,000** — over 1,200 a day — [Fortune reported](https://fortune.com/2026/06/30/everyday-millionaire-how-much-to-feel-rich-ubs-wealth-report/), citing the report. That lifts the U.S. millionaire population above **23.6 million**, more than 40% of the global total, [per the report](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/ubs-global-wealth-report-2026-144708720.html).

The driver was straightforward: **strong financial markets.** In the U.S., a large share of household wealth sits in **financial assets** — stocks, retirement accounts and brokerage holdings — so when equity markets rallied, those gains flowed to the people who already owned the most. A weaker U.S. dollar also flattered wealth measured in other currencies. (A **dollar millionaire** is someone whose total net worth — assets minus debts — tops $1 million; it includes home equity and investments, not just cash.)

## Broad, but top-heavy

The gains were unusually widespread by one measure: UBS said the millionaire population **grew in every one of the 56 markets it tracks** — the first time that has happened. Yet the report's more sobering finding sits beneath the averages. While *average* wealth climbed, **median wealth — the level of the typical household in the middle — fell in most countries.**

That gap between the average and the median is the story. Averages are pulled upward by big gains at the top, so they can rise even as the person in the middle treads water or slips back. UBS's data show wealth continuing to concentrate: the number of **billionaires** rose about 13% to roughly **3,300**, [Yahoo Finance reported](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/ubs-global-wealth-report-2026-144708720.html), and even within the millionaire class the richest have compounded their wealth faster than "everyday millionaires" with $1 million to $5 million.

## Why it matters

For **households**, the report is a reminder that the wealth created by a market boom is distributed by who already owns assets — so a record year for millionaires can coexist with a *decline* in typical household wealth. For **investors and policymakers**, the widening gap between average and median wealth is the kind of data that fuels debates over inequality, taxation and access to investing. And for the **broader economy**, UBS's own framing is telling: future gains, it suggested, will "increasingly depend on access to investable assets" — in other words, on whether you own stocks at all. Boursel gives no investment advice; the takeaway is that 2025 was a banner year for wealth at the top, built largely on rising markets, even as the middle lost a little ground.

## Sources

- [Global Wealth Report 2026: global wealth rose over 10% in 2025](https://www.ubs.com/global/en/media/display-page-ndp/en-20260630-gwr-2026.html)
- [America added more than 1,200 millionaires per day in 2025](https://fortune.com/2026/06/30/everyday-millionaire-how-much-to-feel-rich-ubs-wealth-report/)
- [UBS Global Wealth Report 2026: nearly 1 million new millionaires](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/ubs-global-wealth-report-2026-144708720.html)