via DailyFT – Be Empowered. According to the 15th annual World Wealth Report (Merrill Lynch), High Net Worth Individuals expanded in number and wealth in 2010.
HNWIs are the megarich: those with investable assets of US$1 million or more excluding their residence, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables. Ultra-HNWIs are defined as having US$30 million or more.
There are some 10.9 million HNWIs worldwide, and their wealth is growing at 9.7% p.a. Presently HNWI’s are worth $42.7 trillion worldwide.
Half of the HNWIs are in the US, Japan and Germany, with the US home to 3.1 million HNWIs or 28.6% of the global number of individuals. But the number of HNWIs is growing fastest in Asia & the Pacific; Asian HNWIs have surpassed European ones.
This is important because while middle-class individuals are a very stable block of donors to missions, HNWI individuals can make massive contributions to very large projects. For example, these are the kinds of folks that make up major donors to projects like The JESUS Film translations, etc.
As HNWIs grow in number in Asia and Africa we will see them have a greater impact on the church in the future (already a number of Christian mission conferences are being funded by sources outside the United States). We need funding mechanisms that permit international contributions to projects.
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