India's wealth rose 211% in 15 years: Key takeaways from New World Wealth report

India’s total individual wealth stood at $3,492 billion in 2015 and is ranked tenth, according to a list by New World Wealth. The report, which provides information on the global wealth sector with a special focus on high growth markets, splits the wealth data into two categories – total and per capita. The wealth includes all property, cash, equities and business interests held by individuals. No prize for guessing which country tops the list - the US with a whopping $48,734 billion in the current year. China’s wealth, which comes at a distant second spot, stands at $17,254 billion - almost one-third of the US. Japan, Germany and the UK follow China. However, on wealth per capita basis, India falls at the 20th spot, which is quite poor, at $2,800. This is one notch below Indonesia whose wealth per capita stands at a much higher $6,000. India’s entry into the top 20 countries on per capita basis has been due its large populations, the report said. Interestingly, the per capita list is led by Switzerland at $285,100 followed by Australia ($204,400). With $150,600, the US stands at third rank and the UK ($147,600) fourth. Despite being ranked a dismal 20th in terms of wealth per capita, India has been ranked 5th with regards to wealth growth. According to the report, the wealth in India rose a whopping 211 percent from $900 (wealth per capita) in 2000 to $2,800 in 2015. Indonesia tops the chart as the country’s wealth per capita zoomed 362 percent during the period to $6,000 from $1,300. The report suggested that wealth growth rates in France, Spain and Italy were surprisingly high despite recent economic turbulence, but pointed that the current growth rates were high due to strong growth between 2000 to 2007. The report also highlights several wealthy countries with low populations but high on wealth per capita basis. Among the top ten countries, Monaco led the pack with wealth per capita of $1,525,000 followed by Liechtenstein ($620,000), Switzerland ($285,100) and Australia ($204,400) etc among others. With a special focus on Africa, the report covered top 20 countries from African continent and ranked by per capita wealth for 2015. The list was spearheaded by Mauritius with wealth per capita of $21,710 in 2015, followed by South Africa ($11,000), Namibia ($10,520) and Botswana ($6,750). Among the Middle Eastern countries, Qatar led the pack on the basis of wealth per capita, which stood at $108,290. The United Arab Emirates was ranked two at $76,470 and Kuwait at $72,590.