Kenya is among African countries with the rising number of dollar millionaires even as five out of 13 Kenyans live in abject poverty, illustrating a widening gap between the rich and poor.
The latest Africa Wealth Report by Henley & Partners, an investment migration consultancy based in London shows the number of Kenyans worth over $1 million (Sh130 million) rose by 30 per cent in a decade to 2023, one of the highest in the region.
The growth rate in Kenya is third after Mauritius and Namibia whose rate of dollar millionaires rose by 87 and 32 per cent respectively to 5,100 and 2,300 in that order.
Individuals worth over $100 million (Sh1.3 billion) and above rose to 16 during the review period, with no dollar billionaire reported in the country.
South Africa, once again led the continent, with the number of dollar millionaires hitting 37,400. Individuals worth over $100 million rose to 102 while those with over $1 billion in noteworthy clocking five within a decade.
Egypt and Nigeria are second and third respectively, with the total number of dollar millionaires at 15,600 and 8,200 respectively. The two countries also recorded highest number of $100 dollar millionaires at 52 and 23 respectively.
According to the report, Kenya has the fourth highest wealthiest people in the continent.
Even so, Egypt has the highest number of dollar billionaires at seven, followed by South Africa at five. However, the growth rate of wealthy people in these two countries sunk by 22 and 20 per cent in past 10 years respectively.
Morocco has four-dollar billionaires, Nigeria 3 while Algeria has a single dollar billionaire.
Generally, the growth rate of wealthy people in Africa has dropped by eight per cent in the past 10 years to 135,200.
Those with $100 million are at 342 while the continent has only 21-dollar billionaires.
The report shows there is $2.5 trillion total investable wealth currently held on the African continent, and its millionaire population is set to rise by 65 per cent over the next 10 years.
Africa’s ‘Big 5’ wealth markets — South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Morocco — together account for 56 per cent of the continent’s millionaires and over 90 per cent of its billionaires.
The drop in the number of wealthy people is attributed to currency depreciation and underperforming stock markets that chipped away at Africa’s wealth compared to global benchmarks.
The South African rand fell 43 per cent against the US dollar from 2013–2023, and even though the JSE All Share Index, which makes up well over half of Africa’s listed company holdings, rose in local currency terms, it was down five per cent in US dollar terms over that period.
"Currencies in most other African countries also performed poorly compared to the dollar over the past 10 years, with dramatic depreciations of over 75 per cent recorded in Nigeria, Egypt, Angola, and Zambia,” said Dominic Volek, Group head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners said.
Echoing Volek’s sentiments, Andrew Amoils, head of Research at New World Wealth, said that African nations are also losing large numbers of HNWIs to migration, which is eroding the continent’s wealth.
“According to the latest figures, approximately 18,700 high-net-worth individuals have left Africa over the past decade.
There are currently 54 African born billionaires in the world, including one of the world’s richest, Elon Musk, but only 21 of them still live on the continent.
Most of these individuals have relocated to the UK, the USA, Australia, and the UAE.
"Significant numbers have also moved to France, Switzerland, Monaco, Portugal, Canada, New Zealand, and Israel,” Amoils pointed out.
As of June 2022, Dangote was the wealthiest person in Africa, with an estimated net worth of $20 billion.
