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The Early bird catches the worm! This is what popular culture says. But the one with loads of money as well, especially if he comes from Switzerland. In deed for the first time, Switzerland overpassed Bahrain and Qatar in the number of millionaires per 1000 households. These are consolidated figures from 2014. In terms of Luxury news for the country, it shows how strong the national market is.
millionaires-per-country
The last study made by Boston Consulting Group about the world wealth shows that the world has in total 16.3 million households being millionaire. This means 1.1% of all households in the world. 43% of these millionaire households are located in the US. Nevertheless, Switzerland has 12.7% of total households being in this case. This places the Helvetic Federation as the number one country in the world with the highest rate of millionaires per 1000 of households. It is a lot for such a small country.
What we can say is that millionaires are doing well. No matter how hard the economic crises hits the countries, people are getting rich. Between 2012 and end of 2014, the number of millionaires in the world increased by 19% (BCG study). China gets the biggest growth. In the past 12 month, Chinese millionaires households increased by 76% with 2.3million new wealthy people. This means 4 new millionaire households every minute. Numbers are crazy.
If we take a good look into Switzerland wealthy people, a lot of them are not Swiss. Several millionaires and billionaires decide to move to Switzerland because of several reasons:

  • Perfect location in the world between Asia and the Americas
  • Safety and comfortable conditions of life
  • Discreet culture and respect of personal life
  • Financial and tax conditions

If we check some of the very wealthy people living in Switzerland, here is an interesting top 5.

Birgit Rausing, $14 Billion, Tetra Pak

Birgit-Rausing
Ms Rausing was born in Sweden and when his step-father died, she inherited of all his fortune. He was the founder of a multi-billion dollar business about packaging. He was the inventor of Tetra Pak. She lives in Switzerland in Canton Vaud. Her fortune was estimated at $14 billion.

Viktor Vekselberg, $13 Billion in Aluminum and oil

Viktor-Vekselberg
Mr Vekselberg was born in Russia and this self-made business man gathered a real fortune. First he started in the Aluminum business and then got some interests in Oil which made his huge personal fortune. He lives in Canton of Zug in Switzerland, 30mn south of Zürich.

Ernesto Bertarelli, $10 Billion in Pharmaceuticals

Ernesto-Bertarelli
Mr Bertarelli was born in Rome. After inheriting the pharmaceutical giant Serono in 1998, he sells it to Merck in 2007 for $9 Billion. Since them he dedicated himself to his passion: sailing. He won twice the America’s Cup as he owns Alinghi boats. He lives since his childhood close by Geneva lake.

Klaus-Michael Kühne, $10 Billion in Sea transports

Klaus-Michael-Kühne
Mr Kühne was born in Germany and he receives the group Kuhn & Nagel from his grand-father. It is a huge business in sea transportation operating worldwide. He lives in Canton Schwyz and he is today 74 years old.

August Von Fink, $8.6 Billion with Allianz insurances

August-Von-Fink
Mr Von Fink was born in Germany and he got from his father the Allianz group, one of the world leaders in multiple insurances. He lives in Canton Thurgovie.

Switzerland is a paradise on earth. The country has a healthy economy. It exports more than imports, so the country finance is positive. Watchmaking and Machinery are two strong activities following by Banks, Insurances and Pharmaceuticals. An interesting last statistic is the fact that Switzerland has more millionaires than people depending on Social help. And this is pretty much unique in the world.

LA

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Info sourced at Quartz Atlas , Bilanz.ch, Bilan.ch, La Tribune de Geneve, Administration Federale Suisse, Boston Consulting Group and Forbes. Images for illustration purposes: Viktor Vekselberg by Buzzquotes.com, Birgit Hausing by sydsvenskan.se, Klaus-Michael Kühne by dvz.de, August Von Fink by celebritynetworth123.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.