Much of this growth is due to the surge in ultra-high net worth individuals living in the country, defined as people with investable assets of at least US$30 million, excluding personal assets and property such as a primary residence, collectibles, and consumer durables, said the New World Wealth report released on January 29.

“We expect Vietnam’s number of millionaires to be boosted by strong growth in its local healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services sectors,” said Andrew Amoils, Head of Research at New World Wealth.

Another report from Knight Frank released last year also noted that there are at least 200 ultra-high net worth individuals in Vietnam, a 320% increase between 2000 and 2016.

 

Top countries based on percentage of new wealth added (in US$ terms).

The transformation of the Vietnamese economy over the last 25 years was described as “remarkable” by the World Bank, with economic and political reforms translating into higher incomes. Although the bank warns that the country is vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks, the outlook for the economy remains strong, with average GDP growth forecasted at around 6% annually until 2020. 

In 2017, Vietnam’s GDP grew by 6.81%, a six-year high and surpassing the initial target of 6.7% set by the National Assembly, according to the General Statistics Office. While the country’s economy is valued at VND5,007.9 trillion (US$221 billion), income per capital is VND53.5 million (US$2,385), an increase of US$170 compared to 2016. 

Knight Frank’s 2017 Wealth Report, meanwhile, referred to analyst assessment that low labor costs and a highly specialized workforce were the key to propelling Vietnam to the top of the Southeast Asian supply chains, leading to a substantial jump in foreign direct investment.

The country has rapidly become appealing to foreigners. The Vietnamese coastal city of Danang for the first time earned a spot on the top 10 best places to live overseas in 2018, according to the Live and Invest Overseas website.

Behind Vietnam on the list, China saw the second highest growth over the past 10 years in the world. The number of ultra-high net worth individuals in China rose by 281% between 2000 and 2016.

Even though GDP growth has slowed somewhat in recent years with thousands of wealthy Chinese citizens migrating to places like Canada and Australia, China is still creating a staggering amount of wealth, stated the Wealth report.

The world has now accumulated US$215 trillion in private wealth, a 12% increase over 2017, stated the New World Wealth report. This number includes wealth held by the general population, as well as the 15.2 million millionaires (with assets over US$1 million), 584,000 multi-millionaires (assets over US$10 million), and 2,252 billionaires (assets over US$1 billion) in the world.