This decline was “mainly due to the crisis in Dubai and the significant fall (-48%) in real estate prices” there, the report said.
The World Wealth Report is closely watched by the global luxury goods and services industries, as well as by wealth managers and financial advisers who help the high net worths to become and to stay rich.
For the purposes of this report, HNW individuals are those with investable assets of $1m (£676,300, €813,800) or more, excluding their primary residence, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables. The definition for ultra high net worths is similar except that they have investable assets total $30m or more.
To read more about the World Wealth Report, see Report: number of world’s HNWIs grew by 17% in 2009, led by Asia Pacific.