English 
Français WEALTH - THE SWISS REMAIN THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
Once again this year, Switzerland tops the list of wealthy countries. According to a study by Credit Suisse, the average wealth per capita is over 500,000 Swiss francs. Switzerland is home to no fewer than 1.7% of the world’s wealthiest 1%.
Below is an article that suggests the Swiss are rich... A study based on an average... Just an average... Whereas the vast majority of Swiss people have no personal wealth or assets and do not even own their own homes, unlike the majority of Europeans or Americans,
These same Swiss people will see their precarious financial situation collapse as soon as they retire, as their pensions are the lowest in Europe!
The time has come for people to manage their own investment income, which will be a new concept for the Swiss; will they be able to challenge their assumptions and move forward? We shall see, for if they do not, a major crisis will engulf the population.
By Alain Farrugia
Global wealth grew by 6.4% year-on-year in 2017, reaching $280 trillion. With an average wealth per adult of $537,600 (around 528,000 francs), the Swiss remain the wealthiest, but inequality in the country is not decreasing.
Ten years after the financial crisis, the pace of global wealth growth has accelerated, notes Credit Suisse in its Global Wealth Report published on Tuesday. This growth has been driven not only by gains in the equity markets, but also by increases in non-financial assets, such as property. The latter have exceeded pre-crisis levels for the first time.
However, as has been the case since 2008, the centre of gravity remains in the United States. The US alone accounted for more than half of the additional $16.7 trillion generated globally between mid-2016 and mid-2017.
Global wealth – assessed on the basis of national balance sheets – has grown faster than the population. As a result, average global wealth has also increased by 4.9% year-on-year, reaching a new record of $56,540 per adult.
Thanks to the strong franc
In Switzerland, average wealth per adult rose by 3% year-on-year. Since 2000, the average wealth of every adult living in the country has more than doubled (130%), keeping the country at the top of the rankings for the eighth consecutive year. Expressed in francs, growth reached 35%, an annual average of 1.8%.
The surge recorded since the turn of the century is largely due to the appreciation of the Swiss franc against the US dollar. In terms of median wealth, Switzerland also leads the way, with over $229,000 per adult, compared with around $228,900 a year earlier. Globally, median wealth per adult stands at $3,582.
According to Credit Suisse, the Swiss rank well ahead of Australians, whose average wealth per adult stands at $402,600 and the median at $195,000. Next come the Americans ($388,600 on average) and New Zealanders ($337,400 on average).
Concentration of wealth
However, among the ten countries where wealth distribution has been recorded for a long time, Switzerland remains the only country not to have seen a significant reduction in inequality over the last century. The phenomenon remains to be explained, according to Anthony Shorrocks, author of the study commissioned by Credit Suisse.
The average wealth of Swiss people is the highest. Furthermore, Switzerland is home to no less than 1.7% of the world’s top 1% of wealthiest individuals, whilst accounting for just 0.1% of the global population, notes Switzerland’s second-largest bank.
More than two-thirds of adults living in Switzerland have assets exceeding $100,000, and 8.8% of them are dollar millionaires. According to estimates, 2,780 people living in the country have a fortune exceeding $50 million, and 1,070 of them even exceed $100 million.
More millionaires
Overall, the number of millionaires (still in dollars) has increased by 2.3 million individuals between studies, reaching 33.7 million by the end of June 2017. Nearly half of these new wealthy individuals are based in the United States, which is now home to 43% of the world’s millionaires.
Switzerland, for its part, accounts for 2%, the same as South Korea, but less than Japan (7%), the United Kingdom (6%) or its neighbouring countries. Thanks to the rise of the euro, Germany, France, Italy and Spain together welcomed some 620,000 new millionaires over the twelve-month period under review.
