France topped in the number of outflow of millionaires from the country in 2015, followed by China, Italy and India. This has been brought out in the latest New World Wealth Report on Millionaire Migration in 2015. According to the report, France had an outflow of 10,000 millionaires during the year, closely followed by China at 9,000. Italy and India had outflow of 6,000 and 4,000 millionaires respectively. The report attributed the outflow in France to rising religious tensions between Christians and Muslims, especially in urban areas. The report states that millionaire migration from France is expected to accelerate over the next decade as the tensions escalate. Further, other European countries where religious tensions are emerging – such as Belgium, Germany, Sweden and UK – may also be negatively impacted in the near future.
The report defines millionaires as individuals with net assets of US$ 1 million or more, excluding their primary residences. It is based on interviews with around 800 high net worth individuals, investor visa programme statistics, property registers and sales statistics of different countries.
As regards inflows, Australia secured the top spot with 8,000 millionaire inflow during the year. It was followed by United States (7,000), Canada (5,000) and Israel (4,000).
The report states that the outflows from China and India are not of particular concern as these countries are producing far more millionaires than they are losing. Also, once the standard of living in these countries improves, it is expected that several wealthy people would move back.
The fact of millionaires leaving a country is primarily considered to be a bad sign. It results in outflow of money as they take large amounts of money with them, which impacts negatively on the local currency, stock market and property market. Further, it results in lost revenue and tax as millionaires spend a lot of money on local goods and services and pay a large amount of income tax.