Africa, 56% of private wealth is concentrated in three countries: there are only 143 thousand super rich and hundreds of millions of people living in poverty

ROME – There is a report – published by Africa – on wealth in Africa published last April by the British investment consultancy agency Henley & Partners (H&P)in collaboration with the South African agency New World Wealth. According to the study, South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria respectively hold $651 billion, $307 billion and $228 billion of private wealth at the end of 2022, accounting for $1.18 trillion, or 56 per cent of the 2. 1 trillion dollars of total wealth of the African continent. This is a different valuation from GDP, the monetary measure of the market value of all goods and services produced in a given period of time in a country.

The addition of Morocco and Kenya. Morocco and Kenya complete the list of the continent’s top 5 with total private wealth of $125 and $91 billion, respectively. “Globally, South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt were among the top 15 nationalities for information received by H&P last year. South Africa ranked 5th globally with 38% growth in 2021, Nigeria ranked 7th with 15% growth and Egypt 14th with 25% growth. Dominic Volek, head of the private client group at, says in the report H&P.

South Africa is home to more than twice as many millionaires. As evidence of how much the richest countries affect the total wealth of the continent, in the last decade South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria have recorded a negative growth rate of private wealth equal to -12%, -23% and -27% respectively, bringing to a 7% decline in African wealth growth since 2011. South Africa is home to more than twice as many dollar millionaires as any other African country, and is also the country with the world’s largest gap between rich and poor. The approximate number of people with a net worth of $1 million or more (or what the survey calls “high net worth individuals” – people with high net worth) living in Africa is 136,000, but those whose assets are worth more than $10 million are 6,700. Only 305 Africans own private property worth at least $100 million, and the continent has just 21 billionaires.

Wealth growth of 38% for Africa over the next decade. According to Amanda Smith, managing partner of the South African studies center, Mauritius has been “the fastest growing wealth market in Africa in percentage terms, with a growth of 74% between 2011 and 2021” over the last decade. The island nation also has the highest wealth per capita in Africa at $34,500. New World Wealth predicted 38% wealth growth for Africa over the next decade, and East African countries are set to sustain this increase, with “over 60% growth expected in Uganda and Rwanda and over 50% in Kenya and Zambia”.

Growth in the technology and services sectors. The report adds that this progress will be driven by strong growth in the technology and professional services sectors. “South Africa is home to the largest luxury market in Africa by revenue, followed by Kenya and Morocco,” the report reads. The African wealth management market is projected to grow by 60% over the next decade. The study shows that Africa’s highest wealth was recorded in 2012, at $2.4 trillion, while 2017 recorded the highest number of dollar millionaires (148,000 people). But the continent is also criticized for the tax regimes (and corruption) which in many countries have allowed the rise of these super-rich, in the face of hundreds of millions of citizens in conditions of ever greater poverty.