As pandemic, geopolitical tensions took their toll, China’s affluent families saw wealth and numbers decline, Hurun report says

The report also showed that the number of high-net-worth (HNW) families – with assets worth more than 10 million yuan – dropped 1.3 per cent to 2.08 million in 2023, while the number of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) families – with assets worth more than 100 million yuan – fell 3.8 per cent to 133,000.

The number of international UHNW families, defined as families with assets worth more than US$30 million, also declined by 4.5 per cent to 88,000.

“In 2022, the pandemic and a shifting geopolitical landscape posed uncertainties to global economic development, impacting private wealth in major countries by varying degrees,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, the chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report who is also known as Hu Run.

The report comes amid a push by President Xi Jinping to address inequality through his “common prosperity” initiative, which is intended to bolster social and economic equality, as wealth disparity has increased significantly in China in tandem with an economic boom from the late 1970s onwards.

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It also came weeks after Beijing unveiled its annual gross domestic product (GDP) target of around 5 per cent for 2024, amid deflationary risks, low business confidence and a prolonged downturn in the property sector.

The total amount of assets held by China’s rich families declined by 3.6 per cent year on year to 158 trillion yuan, Hoogewerf said, adding that these assets still accounted for 1.3 per cent of the entire country’s GDP.

The bulk of China’s rich families came from first-tier cities and economically developed regions in the southern and eastern parts of the country, according to the report. Beijing topped the charts for affluent, HNW and UHNW families, while Shanghai and Hong Kong were in second and third place, respectively.

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Among China’s rich families, UHNW families held 8.9 billion yuan in assets, accounting for 67 per cent of the total wealth held by this group. That number also went down by 1 per cent compared with the previous year.

Premier Li Qiang said during the two sessions that the government was “keenly aware” of the challenges it faced ahead, but questions remain as to how Beijing will address these problems.