CSRI Global Wealth Report 2015

Today, wealth is still predominantly concentrated in Europe and the United States. However, the growth of wealth in emerging markets has been most impressive, including  a fivefold rise in China since the beginning of the century. The fact that financial assets accounted for most of the wealth growth in China highlights the relevance 
of financial markets in the creation of wealth, but also points to short-term vulnerabilities of wealth to financial shocks. Stock prices in China gained over 150%…

Today, wealth is still predominantly concentrated in Europe and the United States. However, the growth of wealth in emerging markets has been most impressive, including  a fivefold rise in China since the beginning of the century. The fact that financial assets accounted for most of the wealth growth in China highlights the relevance 
of financial markets in the creation of wealth, but also points to short-term vulnerabilities of wealth to financial shocks. Stock prices in China gained over 150% between June 2014 and mid-June 2015, only to decline sharply thereafter. At the end of June 2015, the date on which our wealth estimates are based, the stock market had weakened by over 20% from its peak. When this report went into press at the end of September, it was down an additional 25%.