The U.S. is Sprouting Most of the World’s Millionaires

U.S. Dollar Closes Higher Against The S. Korean Won

The United States produced the highest number of millionaire households in the world last year. According to a report from the Boston Consulting Group that came out yesterday, the U.S.’s 7.1 million millionaire households are more than what any other country has. Additionally,  the U.S. also has the most new millionaires in the world with 1.1 million of them, reportedly.

China came in second on the report with 2.4 million millionaire households. Japan was third with 1.2 million, which is a drop from the 1.5 million millionaire households Japan had the previous year.

Overall, the total number of the world’s millionaire households increased to 16.3 million from its previous number, 13.7 million, recorded in 2012. That means that 1.1 percent of all households across the globes are millionaires.

While the number of rich, wealthy people in  the United State appears to be growing, the amount of poor individuals in America looks to be increasing along with it. A national survey conducted in late 2012 states that a third of all adults believe that they are in are in the lower classes in the United States. 

The average household income in the U.S. is now, reportedly, $52,100, an increase from what it was back in 2011, but still $3,400 lower than it was in December 2007, just before the recession officially began. Throughout the recession, the lower-income classes have seen the greatest cuts in their incomes.

Former U.S. Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers has stated that the share of income going to the top 1 percent of earners has soared while wages for the lower and middle classes sit at a standstill. Summers believes that the United States needs to stop tax loopholes that only exclusively benefit the wealthy and figure out ways to raise the incomes of America’s lower classes.

“It is ironic that those who profess the most enthusiasm for market forces are least enthusiastic about curbing tax benefits for the wealthy,” Summer stated in an article he wrote for The Financial Times. “Sooner or later inequality will have to be addressed.”

Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Written by Chris King

Chris has been writing for TVOvermind, Uncoached, and Worthly for two years and has written about numerous different television shows, news events, and pop culture topics. He is a graduate of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where he majored in English and Film. Contact him through Twitter (@ckinger13).