The world’s ultra-wealthy people shed a combined $10 trillion, or 10 per cent, from their net worth in 2022, driven by the triple “shock” of global economic uncertainty, the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, a report by property consultancy Knight Frank has said.
The super-rich in Europe were at the centre of the crisis, with ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) losing an average of 17 per cent from their fortunes, Knight Frank said in The Wealth Report 2023 on Wednesday.
Knight Frank defines UHNWIs as people who possess a net worth of $30 million or more, including primary residences and second homes not held as investments.
“Last year, the Ukraine crisis fuelled the European energy crunch and supercharged already surging inflation,” Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s global head of research, said in the report.
“As a result, 2022 saw one of the sharpest upwards movements in global interest rates in history, leading to economic conditions which Collins English Dictionary neatly dubbed the ‘permacrisis’.”