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1 Aug, 2012

63,500 Super-Rich Millionaires in China, Up 5.8%

By Wang Zhuoqiong (chinadaily.com.cn)

Beijing, 2012-08-01 — One out of every 1,300 people in China has a million yuan or more, according to the Hurun Wealth Report 2012, which was released on Tuesday. And the number of Chinese people who have 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) or more reached a record of 1.02 million, an increase of 6.3 percent from 2011.

China is home to 63,500 super-rich people, defined as people with 100 million yuan or more, an increase of 5.8 percent from last year, according to the report, which was released by the Hurun Report and GroupM Knowledge, the knowledge management arm of GroupM, a media investment management operation.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report said, “As China is set to become the world’s biggest market for luxury, it is critical to understand the Chinese luxury consumer.” The Hurun Report conducted face-to-face interviews with 503 Chinese who have a million yuan or more, including 54 billionaires.

Beijing is home to the greatest number of wealthy people in China, including 179,000 millionaires and 10,500 people considered super-rich. Guangdong province follows closely, being home to 167,000 millionaires and 9,500 of the super-rich. In third place is Shanghai, which is home to 140,000 millionaires and 8,200 of the super-rich.

Rising property prices and a fast-growing Gross Domestic Product have been the chief causes of the increase in the number of Chinese millionaires. In 2011, China’s GDP grew by 9.2 percent.

Property prices in the country in 2010 increased across the country by 13.7 percent, according to a report published by China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

Chinese millionaires in general spend most of their money on travel. Sanya, in Hainan province, Hong Kong and Yunnan province are the top three places where they go in China, and France continues to be the most popular international destination , followed by the United States and Australia.

This year saw an increasing number of millionaires begin to lead their lives in an inconspicuous manner, the report said. They continued to spend more on education, showing a clear preference toward sending their children abroad.

As for investing, those with more than a million yuan preferred to put their money into property and are showing more and more interest in fixed income and stock investments, the report said. About 40 percent of millionaires have their own micro blogs.