New data from New World Wealth shows where wealthy South Africans are spreading their roots as they leave local shores.
According to the research firm, South Africa has one of the highest cases of high net worth individual (HNWI) outflows in the world.
HNWIs refer to dollar millionaires – people with net assets of US$1 million or more excluding their primary residences.
Between 2000 and 2014, approximately 8,000 HNWIs have abandoned the country.
South African HNWIs tended to move to Australia, the UK, Cyprus, Mauritius, the USA and Canada, NWW said.
Countries ranked by outflows, 2000 – 2014
| Country | Net outflow of HNWIs | No. of HNWIs, 2014 |
|---|---|---|
| China | 91 000 | 608 500 |
| India | 61 000 | 226 800 |
| France | 42 000 | 323 400 |
| Italy | 23 000 | 198 300 |
| Russia | 20 000 | 117 600 |
| Indonesia | 12 000 | 48 500 |
| South Africa | 8 000 | 46 800 |
| Egypt | 7 000 | 20 200 |
“Along with the rise in second citizenship applications, the number of people changing domicile (or immigrating) has increased dramatically since the turn of the century,” NWW said.
“Major reasons for this include: turmoil in home country, security concerns and optimizing education of children.”
By far, the UK was the largest beneficiary of HNWI movement over the past 14 years, with 125,000 individuals entering the country between 2000 and 2014.
The USA was the next biggest, with 52,000 people moving to the country.
Countries ranked by inflows, 2000 – 2014
| Country | Net outflow of HNWIs | No. of HNWIs, 2014 |
|---|---|---|
| UK | 125 000 | 840 000 |
| USA | 52 000 | 4 105 000 |
| Singapore | 46 000 | 223 800 |
| Australia | 35 000 | 248 100 |
| Hong Kong | 29 000 | 211 700 |
| UAE | 18 000 | 72 100 |
| Canada | 17 000 | 340 500 |
| Turkey | 12 000 | 100 200 |
The United States leads the world in terms of the number of HNWIs in the country.
In 2014, the States had over 4.1 million dollar millionaires, followed by Japan (1.25 million) and the UK (840,000).
South Africa had 46,800 HNWIs in 2014, NWW said.