Nearly one million adults joined the ranks of dollar millionaires worldwide during 2025, a jump powered by the quickest rise in personal wealth seen in several years, UBS reported in its Global Wealth Report 2026.
The Gulf featured prominently in the findings. The UAE now counts 183,000 dollar millionaires after a 3.5 percent climb from 2024, while Saudi Arabia holds roughly 348,000, a 2.6 percent gain over the same stretch. Both figures reflect a wider regional pattern of deepening household wealth.
Between 2020 and 2025, the UAE posted one of the sharpest wealth improvements among the 56 markets UBS tracked. Average wealth per adult climbed close to 25 percent, but the more telling figure was median wealth, which jumped more than 40 percent. UBS read that gap as evidence that the gains reached beyond the wealthiest households, even as the upper brackets pulled ahead fastest. Asset appreciation, incoming capital, new business formation and an expanding pool of high earners all fed the trend.
A distinctive strength for both Gulf economies is how little debt weighs on their households. Borrowing amounts to barely 6 percent of gross wealth in each country, ranking among the lowest levels anywhere in the study. Financial holdings make up close to 59 percent of gross wealth in both, giving the two nations sturdy balance sheets relative to economies where debt eats into wealth-building.
Saudi Arabia’s numbers were steadier but still positive. After adjusting for inflation, average wealth per adult grew nearly 4 percent in local currency, and median wealth rose 4.9 percent, a spread that points to more even distribution across the population.
The daily pace of wealth creation was striking: more than 2,680 people crossed the million-dollar threshold every day, lifting the global millionaire count by 1.5 percent. The United States drove much of that, absorbing close to half the total increase as over 440,000 Americans became millionaires during the year.
At the global level, personal wealth measured in dollars expanded 10.8 percent, outpacing the 2024 and 2023 rates by more than double. UBS attributed the surge to buoyant financial markets alongside gains in non-financial assets. The distribution, however, tilted upward. Average wealth climbed steeply while median wealth slipped in most markets, stretching the distance between the richest households and everyone else.
Regionally, Europe, the Middle East and Africa led with growth approaching 18 percent. Eastern Europe was the standout at 28 percent, with Western Europe close behind near 17 percent. Asia-Pacific trailed at just over 5.9 percent, though it stays a stronghold for high-net-worth individuals, particularly across Greater China and Southeast Asia.
By raw numbers, America dominates the millionaire landscape with an estimated 23.6 million, more than 40 percent of the sampled total. Western Europe sits just under 15 million, roughly a quarter, and Asia-Pacific runs about even with it, anchored by mainland China’s 5.3 million-plus and Japan’s near-3 million. North America and Western Europe together hold over 70 percent of the world’s millionaires; pairing North America with Greater China accounts for more than 56 percent.
For percentage growth in new millionaires, Eastern Europe again set the pace. Lithuania topped the list with an 8 percent rise, trailed by Türkiye, Latvia and Hungary, all above 5 percent.
UBS also flagged rapid expansion just above the $5 million mark, a cohort it calls the older siblings of “Everyday Millionaires,” with mainland China, Australia and the US leading that segment. Reshaping the broader wealth pyramid, fewer adults now sit in the lowest band below $10,000 while the middle tiers swell, a structural shift UBS expects to continue as people migrate into higher brackets.
