The $100 trillion mark, which only recently seemed like an abstract figure from economic fiction, is now literally just a step away. The combined wealth of people with investment assets of $1 million or more reached a record $98.3 trillion in 2025, according to summary, adding another 9% in a year.
This grand growth is not due to oil, gold, or even real estate. The main generator of new wealth has been the boom around artificial intelligence, which has literally blown up the stock markets. While artificial intelligence has driven stock markets to new highs, the number of rich people in the world has increased by another 2 million people. Overall, the dollar millionaire club has expanded to 25.3 million people, and the category of those with more than $30 million has already reached 250,000.
As investors look to the upcoming IPOs of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI, they are potentially launching a new wave of billion- and trillion-dollar fortunes. The expected placement of SpaceX shares is already being called an event that could bring Elon Musk closer to the status of the first trillionaire in history.
Of all regions, the United States again showed the largest increase, where the number of millionaires increased by 736 thousand to reach 8.7 million. The combined wealth of wealthy Americans increased by another 10% over the year.
Thanks to strong demand for semiconductors, the Asia-Pacific region has also become one of the main winners of this financial cycle. Japan added 436 thousand new millionaires, China – 154 thousand, and the overall growth in the region was 10.5%.
Amid falling inflation, Europe has also seen its wealth grow, albeit not as dramatically as the US or Asia. The region’s overall growth was 6.5%, with Luxembourg standing out as the standout, with its market growing by 13.5%.
While most regions have seen their wealth grow, the Middle East has seen its wealth decline by 1.4% due to falling oil prices and local conflicts.
Despite the rich’s love of listed assets, the structure of their portfolios is gradually changing. As of January 2026, a quarter of all millionaires’ assets remained in public stocks, while the share of alternative investments — cryptocurrencies, commodities and hedge funds — has declined.
As big money seeks not only returns but also control, more and more investors are moving into private equity. Two-thirds of wealthy clients plan to expand their private equity investments, and at least $1.5 trillion in new assets will move from traditional firms to family offices and brokerages between 2022 and 2025.
Along with the record growth in wealth, inequality has become even more visible, having long ceased to be just a social issue and turned into an economic risk. At the end of 2025, the richest 1% of US residents controlled almost 32% of all wealth in the country – the highest share since 1989.
However, domestic statistics also show interesting trends. As of April 2026, there were 74 thousand businessmen in Ukraine with an income of 10 million hryvnias per year, which is a fifth of the 360 thousand company owners who filed annual reports.
Although the ranking of Ukrainian businessmen has noticeably updated over the year, the general trend has remained unchanged – big capital continues to be concentrated in a narrow circle. 9,122 participants dropped out of the list, while 15,450 were added, and the net increase was 6,328 businessmen.
If we look at the gender balance, the picture remains sharply unequal: only 28% of businessmen on the list are women. Almost a quarter of the ranking participants are registered in Kyiv, and the three richest Ukrainian businessmen include Rinat Akhmetov, Vitaliy Antonov and Andriy Verevsky.
After billionaires increased their fortunes by $2 trillion in 2024, or about $5.7 billion per day, the new record no longer looks like a coincidence. So, the world is entering a phase where money is growing faster than economies, and $100 trillion is becoming not a fantasy, but the closest financial reality.
