China had four million millionaire households in 2014, the second-highest in the world after the United States, as the country's stock market boom boosted private wealth, an independent survey showed Tuesday. One million new millionaires were created in the country last year, the highest increase among all nations, US-based research firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said in a report.
The United States had seven million millionaire households last year, the most in the world. Japan took third place with one million, according to the report. Growth in private wealth in China was driven mainly by investments in local equities, it said. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished 2014 as the best performer in Asia after soaring more than 50 percent.
"Strong market performance across the entire (Asia-Pacific excluding Japan) region - thanks to solid domestic demand - significantly increased the value of existing assets... compared with the increase stemming from newly created wealth," the report said. The rise in the value of existing assets accounted for 76 percent of the region's growth in private wealth, it added. China had 1,037 households with more than $100 million in net worth, around one fifth of the United States' 5,201 but the second-largest in the world, the report said.