Commoditiesmultiplytheworld‘swealthy

LatinAmerica，theMiddleEastandAfricasawthegreatestgrowthinthenumberofrichpeoplelastyearassurgingcommoditiespricesandboominglocalstockexchangesincreasedthewealthofentrepreneursandinvestorsinemergingmarkets。

Thenumberofpeoplewithliquidassetsofatleast$1mgrewby10percentormoreinthosethreeregions，accordingtoareportbyMerrillLynch，theinvestmentbank，andCapGemini，theconsultancy。

Thereportestimateslastyeartherewere8。7mmillionairesontheplanet，anincreaseof6。5percentupon2004。What‘smore，thesepeoplearebecomingricher，withtheirtotalassetsrising8。5percentlastyeartoanestimated$33，300bn。

WealthypeopleinNorthAmerica，EuropeandAsiacontinuetoaccountforthevastmajorityoftheworld‘‘smillionaires。Thesethreeregionsaccountfor8moftheglobaltotal，and82percentoftotalwealth。

Thefiguresreflecttheeffectsofeconomicgrowthandrisingstockmarketsworldwidelastyear，particularlygrowingdemandforcommodities。Someofthesegainsarelikelytohavebeenreversedinrecentmonthsafterasharpsell－offinsomeemergingmarketsassomeinvestorsswitchedbacktolessriskyassetclasses。

Swellingranksoftherichhaveledtoascrambleamongtheworld‘slargestbankstocapturethemasclients。Growingcomplexityofwealthmanagementhasencouragedrichpeopletoshiftassetstolargefinancialinstitutionsinrecentyears，thougheventhelargestplayersstillhaveonlyaverysmallshareofthemarket。

Theworld‘srichcontinuetoshifttheirmoneyintoalternativeassetclasses，withtheproportionofwealthallocatedtoprivateequityandhedgefundsrisingto20percentonaveragelastyear。Thatreflectsastronginflowintoprivateequity，MerrillLynchfound。Lacklustrereturnsmeantinvestorswerelessenthusiasticabouthedgefundsthaninpreviousyears。