THE number of millionaire households in the UK is predicted to rise by 60 per cent to more than 2.4 million within the next ten years, according to a study.
Britain's richest are expected to have more than £6.9 trillion by 2017, with the number of households with a fortune of £5m due to increase by 120 per cent to 126,000, the Household Wealth Index revealed.
The study, developed by Barclays Wealth an
d the Economist Intelligence Unit, forecasts that the rise in the number of millionaire households – up from 1.5 million in 2007 – will give the UK the seventh highest concentration of wealth in the world.
But the experts behind the study said that this could leave the UK vulnerable to a shock from an economic downturn.
Michael Dicks, head of research and investment strategy at Barclays Wealth, said:
"We believe that any financial downturn would have a greater short-term impact on wealth creation in the UK than in other European countries, which do not have the concentration of financial services activity seen in London."
The United States is set to retain its global status as the world's richest nation, the study predicts, although it suggests that emerging markets such as China and India will significantly close the gap by 2017.
The full article contains 226 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
