Paris - The number of millionaires in the world increased by 8.3% in 2006, with about 9.5m individuals now estimated to have more than a million dollars in financial assets, a report said on Wednesday.
The survey by financial services group Capgemini and US investment bank Merrill Lynch said strong global economic growth and gains on the stock market explained the expansion of the exclusive club of "High Net Worth Individuals" (HNWI).
The financial assets owned by the group totalled $37.2 trillion (€27.7 trillion), an increase of 11.4% from 2005, with Singapore, India, Indonesia and Russia producing the greatest number of new millionaires.
"Real GDP and market capitalisation growth rates, two primary drivers of wealth generation, accelerated throughout 2006, which helped to increase the total number of HNWIs around the world as well as the amount of wealth they control," the report said.
The number of Ultra-HNWIs - individuals with financial assets exceeding $30m - increased by 11.3% in 2006, with the global population of this extremely affluent group now estimated at 94 970 people.
The financial assets of Ultra-HNWIs increased by 16.8% compared with 2005, illustrating a trend whereby wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the already wealthy, the report said.
"Global wealth continued to consolidate in 2006, a trend we have reported for the past 11 years," the report said.
Capgemini and Merrill Lynch define a millionaire as someone with more than $1m in financial assets such as cash, equities, bonds or funds.
They do not include the value of an individual's primary residence or private collections of objects such as art, antiques or coins.
This year's report included a section looking at the money spent by millionaires on so-called "investments of passion," meaning investments in luxury goods.
More than a quarter of such investments were in private jets, sports teams, yachts or race horses, with the remainder in art, fine wine and jewelry.
"On average, art investments comprised 20% of HNWIs' investments of passion - outlays that were dwarfed by the huge prices paid for private aircraft and yachts," the report said.
The survey also highlighted a trend among millionaire investors to put money into the real estate market in 2006, particularly commercial real estate, to take advantage of surging rental and property prices.
"In 2006 HNWIs overall shifted their allocations from 'alternative investments' ... to seek high returns from real estate opportunities."
This was likely to be a short-term, tactical move, however, "rather than a long-term asset allocation shift."
For the future, Capgemini and Merrill Lynch predicted a slowdown in the global economy this year but an increase in the wealth of the world's super-rich of about 6.7%.
The collective fortune of the HNWI population is forecast to hit $51.6 trillion in 2011, compared with $37.2 trillion last year.