291 Kenyans in the List of World’s Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals

291 Kenyans have a net-worth of more than 3 billion shillings, a newly released global report on wealth shows.

A study carried out by Wealth-X reveals that Kenya is among top four countries in the world where the number of super-rich individuals is growing fastest.

The World Ultra Wealth Report 2018 quotes the number of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) in the world at 255,810 individuals by 2017, a 12.9 per cent increase from 2016.

In Africa, the reports shows there are 2,490 UHNW individuals, with an analysis by Forbes ranking Kenya fourth in the continent with 11.7 per cent of the African super-rich population. This means that by 2017, Kenya had about 291ultra-rich individuals who were worth at least Sh3 billion..

The combined wealth of the 255,810 world's high-net-worth individuals rose by 16.3 per cent to $31.5trn, “implying healthy gains in average net worth”, the report says.

Continent wise, Africa accounted for 1 per cent (2,490) of the global super-rich population, while North America recorded the highest population of 90,440 individuals translating to 35 percent.

Europe was second with 72,570 individuals (28 percent), 68,970 in Asia (21 percent), Middle East 9,090 (4 percent), 8,550 in Latin America (3 percent) and Pacific with 1 per cent (3,700 individuals). Africa’s 2,490 super-rich individuals are worth a combined $305bn (Sh30.7 trillion).

Bangladesh had the fastest growing deep-pocketed population with 17.3 per cent followed by China (13.4 percent), Vietnam  (12.7 percent), Kenya while India (10.3 percent) closes the top five list. United States is ranked 10th with 8.1 per cent of North America’s ultra-high-net-worth individual.