RIYADH: The UAE is expected to attract 4,500 millionaires by the end of 2023 — the second most of any country globally, a new report claims.
Although this projected increase will be fewer than the record-breaking 4,000 millionaires in 2022, it still secured the UAE its second position on Henley & Partners’ list.
The 2022 report indicated that the UAE’s low tax regime, one of the world’s fastest vaccination rates, and Dubai’s role in hosting the first World Expo of the post-COVID-19 era helped boost the appeal of the country as a wealth hub.
Its immigration policies, which are tailored to attract private wealth and international talent, also helped induce this influx of ultra-wealthy people in 2022.
Affluent Russians seeking to escape the impact of the Western sanctions on their country have started to move to the UAE and Israel in large numbers, according to British journalist Misha Glenny.
Commenting on the report, he said: “An underlying pattern was already detectable in advance of the invasion of Ukraine.
“Well before the imposition of sanctions on the Russian banking system, there was a tsunami of capital leaving the country, largely prompted by the increasingly capricious governing style of President Vladimir Putin and his demands of loyalty made on middle-class and wealthy Russians.”
In the 2023 report, Henley & Partners CEO Juerg Steffen said high-net-worth individuals’ migration was a rising trend over the past decade, despite the dips in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
He added that global figures for 2023 and 2024 are anticipated to reach 122,000 and 128,000, respectively.
The report noted: “While net losses dropped slightly between 2017 and 2019, the 2023 forecast indicates a far more significant millionaire exit is currently underway.”
Topping the millionaire migration list in 2023 was Australia, with 5,200 millionaires around the world calling it home — up from 3,800 in 2022.
Coming third after the UAE was Singapore, attracting a record breaking 3,200 millionaires this year — up from 2,900 the year prior.
On the other hand, the country witnessing the largest net exodus of millionaires was China, with an outflow of 13,500 in 2023.
India will see an outflow of over 6,500 millionaires by the end of this year, whereas the UK will drop by 3,200.
The UK’s plunge comes as a result of the country’s post-Brexit economic ecosystem and the government policy change that has removed permanent non-domiciled tax status.
The report noted that the aggregate number of millionaires exiting the UK is forecast to double in 2023, whereas the year before saw an outflow of 1,600 from the country.
