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The number of people in East Asia owning at least US$100 million in assets has surpassed North America for the first time.

Southeast Asia, China and Japan now have 18,000 "centra-millionaires", compared with North America's 17,000 and Western Europe's 14,000, according to new figures produced for The Wealth Report.

Ledbury Research, which specialises in monitoring global wealth trends, says there are now 63,000 people worldwide with $100 million or more in assets. The number has increased by 29% since 2006 and is forecast to rise even further.

By 2016, Ledbury Research expects that East Asia will have extended its lead, with 26,000 centamillionaires, compared with 21,000 in North America and 15,000 in Western Europe.

On a country-by-country basis, the US will still dominate in 2016, with 17,100 centa-millionaires, but China will be catching up fast with numbers set to double from current levels to 14,000.

“Individuals can become millionaires or multimillionaires through saving their earnings, a trend most commonly seen in more developed and established economies. But, apart from those who inherit wealth, most people who are very wealthy, say with assets of $10m or more, are business owners,” says James Lawson, Director at Ledbury Research.

“To amass this sort of wealth means there must be an alignment between opportunity and ability. For those who make more than $50m, the opportunity usually arises because of a major liquidity event, and these are more common, and can be tapped into more readily, in fast-moving economies.”

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