Allianz Global Wealth Report 2025: Powering Ahead
- Powering ahead: 2024 saw another bumper year for global financial assets of private households, with an increase of 8.7%
- Growth made in the USA: Half of the growth in global financial assets was generated in the USA in 2024
- Smart and hard savers: Owning securities is key for asset growth but portfolio structures vary widely between countries
- All quiet at the distribution front: There has been no progress towards greater equality over the last 20 years
- Solid growth: Gross financial assets of Asia’s private household increased by 9.8%
Singapore, September 25, 2025
Today, Allianz unveiled the 16th edition of its “Global Wealth Report”, which puts the asset and debt situation of households in almost 60 countries under the microscope.
Powering ahead
2024 saw another year of solid growth for the global economy – and another bumper year for financial assets of private households: With an increase of 8.7%, this even exceeded the strong growth of the previous year (8.0%). By the end of 2024, total financial assets had reached EUR 269 trillion. While this is a new absolute record, relative to economic activity, financial assets at 283% are only at the same level as in 2017.
Growth made in the USA
Over the past 10 years, the financial assets of American households have grown in line with the global average. But in 2024, their growth was even higher. This is in stark contrast to Western Europe and Japan, where growth lagged the global average by over 2pps and just under 4pps per year, respectively. “Financial asset growth in the US is simply amazing.”, said Ludovic Subran, chief economist of Allianz. “In 2024, half of the growth in global financial assets was generated in the USA alone. Over the last decade, this figure stood at 47%. China, on the other hand, accounted for 20%, while Western Europe accounted for 12%. In terms of financial assets at least, the idea that other countries have haven taken advantage of the US is unfounded.”
Smart and hard savers
Owning securities, particularly stocks, is key for asset growth. In this respect, the last two years have been extremely gratifying for savers. In both 2023 (11.5%) and 2024 (12.0%), securities grew almost twice as fast as the other two asset classes: insurance/pensions (6.7% and 6.9%, respectively) and bank deposits (4.7% and 5.7%, respectively). However, the extent to which savers benefit from rising securities prices varies widely between countries and regions due to differences in portfolio structures. Notably, it is primarily North American savers who invest in securities, accounting for 59% of portfolios. In Western Europe, for example, this figure stands at around 35%. In India, it’s just 13%. Price increases therefore have less of an impact on overall asset growth. This means that hard savings efforts are required. “You have to work for your money”, says Kathrin Stoffel, co-author of the report. “ It’s smarter to let the money work for you. Like the Americans. Price increases in stock markets are mainly responsible for asset growth in the USA.”
All quiet at the distribution front
Looking at the distribution of wealth nationally, we can see that the richest ten percent of the population in the analyzed countries have an overall share of 60.4% (unweighted average). The average wealth is around three times higher than the median (ratio 3.08). However, while international wealth dynamics were characterized by convergence for a long time – with the gap between poorer and richer countries narrowing – there has been no progress towards greater equality at a national level, despite inequality being a major political issue for years. Not even a tiny bit. In 2004, the richest 10% in the examined countries had a 59.9% share of wealth, and the average wealth was three times the median wealth (ratio 3.05). These figures are almost exactly the same as last year's.
Solid growth
Asia was once again one of the drivers of global gross financial asset growth. At 9.8%, the regional growth was above the global average of 8.7%. In real terms, Asian private households’ total gross financial assets increased by 8.4%.
Despite the nominal increase of 9.8% to EUR 71.0 trillion at the end of 2024, private households’ gross financial assets in the surveyed Asian economies, which represented 69% of the total population of all surveyed countries, corresponded to a mere 26% of the global gross financial assets. The average gross financial assets of each inhabitant of the surveyed Asian countries amounted to EUR 18115. For comparison: in Western Europe this average was EUR 115261 and in the US EUR 370156.
However, there are marked differences between the Asian economies with respect to the development stage of the financial systems including the access to financial services. This is not only reflected in the asset-to-GDP ratios, ranging from 36% in Indonesia to 630% in Taiwan, but also in their ranking in terms of net financial assets per capita. While Singapore and Taiwan range among the 5 richest countries in this respect, Indonesia and Pakistan are among the poorest of all surveyed economies.
Asset growth in the region was mainly driven by securities, which increased by 13.7% to EUR 20.2 trillion at the end of 2024, accounting for 28% of the Asian households’ gross financial assets. For the first time, life insurance and pension assets also recorded a double-digit growth on regional level at 11.8%, reflecting not least the efforts of many governments to further strengthen capital-funded pension provision. However with a share of 19% this asset class remained the smallest one. The largest asset class are still deposits, which increased by 7.3% and still accounted for 52% of the Asian private households’ portfolio at the end of 2024.
Total liability growth slowed to 4.2%, resulting in a slight decline of the regional debt-to-GDP ratio to an average 59.6%. That was three percentage points less than the global average of 62.6%. However, there are marked differences between the Asian economies, with the debt-to-GDP ratios ranging from 2.1% in Pakistan to 96.7% in Taiwan. Overall, the net financial assets of Asia’s private households increased by 12.1%, with growth rates ranging from -0.6% in Indonesia to 16% in China and India, and 27% in Pakistan.
