Millionaire Tracker


  • The UK is Set to Be the Worst in the World for Millionaire Exits as a Share of Population Within this Parliament;

  • The UK is set to lose the greatest proportion of millionaires in the world within this parliament;

  • The share of the population who are millionaires will fall by 20% by 2028. 4.55% of British residents are millionaires in 2024, however, it is forecast that this will fall to 3.62% by 2028;

  • The ASI defines millionaires are those who have over 1 million USD in net wealth across all asset classes, including - but not limited to - cash, shares, property, and private pension funds;

  • The ASI’s Millionaire Tracker examines multiple different data sets to understand millionaires in the UK;

  • Many millionaires are wealth creators, setting up businesses and employing people across the UK, so their departure is a worrying leading indicator of economic health and growth prospects; 

  • This is especially true for liquid millionaires, who tend to be entrepreneurs and business owners who have sold their enterprises for cash or shares, and are often looking to continue investments into the economy;

  • Millionaires are leaving the UK for a number of reasons, including day-to-day taxation, frozen inheritance tax thresholds and a potential increase in capital gains taxes, the abolition of the non-dom regime, and a culture hostile to wealth-creators; 

  • The Government should create a tax environment which is friendly to our entrepreneurs and wealth creators through cuts to capital gains tax,  corporation tax, top-to-bottom planning liberalisation, and the creation of a globally competitive offering to High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs). 


Millionaires pay a significantly greater share of taxation than other taxpayers, specifically in income tax. HMRC highlights that the top 1% of earners pay 29.1% of all income tax (the Treasury’s largest source of tax revenue).

Figure 1: House of Commons Library Briefings, Tax statistics: an overview

Private offices (companies which manage a millionaire family’s money) and angel investors leverage high net worth individuals (HNWI) wealth to domestically invest in the UK’s start-ups. Although the data are unclear and sporadic on how much is invested. We can conclude from the Productivity Institute that 17% of the UK’s GDP is made up of gross capital formation, much of which is made up of ‘intangibles’ which are hard to track. 

HNWIs are important for Britain’s economic landscape, consuming high value goods and services, investing in start-ups and medium sized businesses, and paying high-levels of taxation.

A withdrawal of millionaires is counterproductive for British growth. As previous Adam Smith Institute contributions have shown, taxes directed at the wealthy are counterproductive and raise little revenue after an immediate gain. Millionaires leaving removes investment into the general economy and stops them from being taxed for public service provision - if we want to be a wealthier country, we need to create more millionaires here, and entice more from abroad. 

Figure 2: Adam Smith Institute analysis, the Change in Share of the Millionaire Population between 2023-2028, based on UBS/Credit Suisse Wealth Reports

Total Millionaires

Total millionaires are defined as net wealth across all assets, including housing and private pension funds and cash. UBS/Credit Suisse estimate that there were 3,061,553 total millionaires in the UK in 2023, and forecast a reduction to 2,542,464 by 2028. 

The ASI has found that as a proportion of the overall population, the UK is set to lose the highest number of total millionaires in the world at -0.93% of our per-capita population, or -20.5% of our total millionaire population by 2028.

By 2028, the Adam Smith Institute estimates that as a proportion of the overall population, the number of total millionaires in the country will fall from 4.55% to 3.62%. This is an almost 20% reduction in the total millionaire population, which indicates a very significant fall in the number of business owners and successful entrepreneurs who choose to make Britain their home.


Liquid Millionaires

This group is defined as people holding over USD 1 million in liquid investable assets and/or cash, and are leaving the UK in startling numbers. According to data from Henley & Partners and New World Wealth, the UK is set to lose 9,500 liquid millionaires in 2024. There are now 602,500 liquid millionaires in the UK as of 2023, a decrease from 2007, where the UK had 708,500 liquid millionaire residents. This number will fall to 593,000 liquid millionaire residents by the end of 2024, per their calculations.


Figure 3: New World Wealth and Henley Partners, agglomerated liquid millionaire migration between 2017-2023; Source: Henley Wealth Migration Dashboard 2024 https://www.henleyglobal.com/publications/henley-private-wealth-migration-dashboard

These liquid millionaires do not just disappear into thin air. They take their money, other businesses, investment, and insights with them. As shown in the below table, the significant loss of the UK’s wealth is the gain of the UAE, US, Singapore, Canada, and Australia.. It is also notable that (as per the yellow bar, being the 2024 numbers), there has been a significant uptick in liquid millionaires with a forecast for the UK to lose net 9,500 liquid millionaires in 2024, with a confirmed net exit of 4,200 in 2023, 1,600 in 2022.

Figure 4: Liquid Millionaire Movement over 3 years, agglomerated from New World Wealth and Henley Partners reports; Source: Henley Wealth Migration Dashboard 2024 https://www.henleyglobal.com/publications/henley-private-wealth-migration-dashboard

There has been a significant increase in the number of billionaires (all of whom are at least liquid millionaires) leaving the country, dropping from 102 in the UK in 2019 down to 75 in 2023 (or 26% in one year). This is likely to fall further given previous trajectories, although we are unsure as to the extent. This is a very significant movement away from the UK, and it is a vote of no confidence in our current economic structures and foundations.In particular, it highlights the importance of tax reforms, productivity measures, and economic growth during governments which took direct action in reducing the tax burden.

Figure 5: Number of Millionaires and Billionaires in the UK between 2013-2023, Source: Henley Wealth Migration Dashboard 2024: https://www.henleyglobal.com/publications/henley-private-wealth-migration-dashboard

What explains this unprecedented exodus of millionaires and billionaires?

The reasons that HNWIs are choosing to leave the UK can broadly be summarised as:

  • ⁠High taxes 

  • ⁠⁠Anti-prosperity culture

  • Changes to the Non Doms rules

As previous Adam Smith Institute research has shown, Tax Freedom Day is now the 10th of June, meaning that the average person on the average salary is paying tax for 161 days of their 365 days a year of work. That is four days more than the year previously. 

Liquid wealth, which is how we define millionaires in our analysis, is subject to estate duty (also known as Inheritance Tax), and capital gains tax on shares and second property, as well as high rates of income taxes.

The UK has the second highest relative inheritance tax in the OECD (second only to France’s 45%). The only other comparable size of estate duty is in the US, however, the thresholds for impact are higher by a factor of ten. Compared to other nations, where there are much lower or non-existent rates for inheritances, the UK remains on the bottom for competitiveness for these personal taxes, as seen below.

Capital Gains Tax also provides a problem for HNWIs and millionaires (both total and liquid), as it increases the costs of investing. Liquid millionaires often live on the capital gains on their investments - and there are long-running concerns about the current Government’s intentions to raise capital gains taxes to be in line with income, there is little surprise that there is likely to be an uptick in the exodus of the wealthy.

Changes to the non-doms status has also encouraged a flight of non-domiciled, but resident, HNWIs. The proposed changes to the non-dom regime means global income and gains will be included in tax, which differs significantly from the current foreign income and gains benefits applicable today. For these individuals, there are rumours that new reforms will tax global income and assets (non-remitted income) and abolish the time limit on the tax holiday. Although there are no up to date numbers on the number of non-doms who are considering leaving, rather than becoming domiciled, there is private wealth lawyers, realtors, and family offices have raised significant concerns. Should the government seek to expand the inheritance tax threshold to include global remittances, it is likely that there would be a larger outflow than forecast previously, as non-doms seek to avoid global taxation on their non-UK assets.

The culture towards the rich has also changed. As Rainer Zitelmann highlights in ‘The Rich in Public Opinion’, the public (and therefore the socio-political culture) has shifted heavily against millionaires and HNWIs since 2008. Higher, frozen tax rates, increases in corporation tax, pressure over private school fees, and a general seachange in rhetoric has made  many millionaires and HNWIs wonder whether they feel welcome in Britain anymore.

It is not just for the millionaire’s benefit that a change in culture would be beneficial - a country which embraces and strives for entrepreneurialism, wealth creation, and a ‘go-get-it’ attitude would do much to engender a wealthier society. To forego a change in culture is to ignore the benefits of societal prosperity.

Since the 2016 Brexit vote, there has been marked volatility in the number of liquid millionaires in the UK. In 2015, the UK was home to 609,900 liquid millionaires, yet by 2022 there were 612,300. Now, there are 8% fewer than in 2007. Brexit has provided challenges to the certainty of the UK’s investment and immigration policies, however there has been a general settling point of around 600,000 since 2015 for the number of liquid millionaires. We can conclude from this that Brexit has not had a significant impact on the presence of liquid millionaires in the UK.

What to do next?

There are a number of things the government can do to reverse this change:

  • Reduce capital gains tax (without integrating it into income tax) (link);

  • Replace corporation tax with a cash flow tax (link);

  • Abolish Inheritance Tax (link);

  • Undertake an international competitiveness assessment on the UK’s tax and regulatory treatment of non-doms and other high net worth individuals.

Methodology

The Adam Smith Institute utilised data from New World Wealth and UBS/Credit Suisse wealth reports, as well as national data office population data and forecasts, for each respective nation. We calculated the number of millionaires within the country per capita, and utilising UBS/Credit Suisse forecasts for millionaires in 2028 against population forecasts provided by the ONS, and calculated the forecast exodus of millionaires. This was calculated as both a percentage of millionaires against the overall population, and against the population of millionaires today. We also utilise the Governmental census bodies of other applicable countries from other nations mentioned in the UBS/Credit Suisse and New World Wealth reports.

As our analysis is based on UBS/Credit Suisse’s data, where they investigated 36 separate countries, there will be gaps in the data we have utilised for our tracker. Likewise, New World Wealth’s data, comprising 24 countries was utilised for liquid millionaires and may reflect similar criticisms over proportionality and gaps for non-measured countries. Our report concentrates on the G7, OECD, and other global economic peers.