Number of Global Millionaires on the Rise, Again

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Of the myriad of annual studies measuring everything from home buying habits to the favorite ice cream of billionaires, the Merrill Lynch/CapGemini World Wealth Report is one of my favorites.

The report primarily tracks the number of wealthy people in the world, the volume of people who can call themselves millionaires. Of course, a million doesn't go very far these days, so instead of measuring the filthy rich, the report really tracks simply those people doing pretty good, the people making money or losing it.

In 2009, a lot more people were making money, according to the latest report, released this week. After a drop in 2008, the number of millionaires--defined as individuals with net worth of more than $1 million, outside their residence--increased by 17 percent, and their total net worth increased net worth.

The year was especially good to truly rich, referred to as "ultra-high net worth individuals." After seeing their worth drop 24 percent in 2008, the UHNWI saw their worth jump 21.5 percent in 2009--so much for the dark days on the Riviera.

North America still leads the pack, with 3.1 millionaires, but the rest of the world is catching up. Asia's community of high net worth individuals has grown to 3 million, equaling Europe for the first time.

But 2009 was far less kind to the Middle East, where membership in the millionaires club declined by 19 percent, most likely due to Dubai's woes.

In general, HNWIs are far more conservative these days, the study found. More money went into fixed-income investments. And another tidbit that is good news for the international property market: millionaires are investing more across borders, looking for better deals and a hedge against a downturn in their home country.

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