The Africa Wealth Report 2025

Methodology

The Africa Wealth Report is published annually by Henley & Partners, the global leader in residence and citizenship planning, in partnership with global wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth, which is currently the only known independent wealth research entity systematically tracking global wealth migration trends between countries and cities.

Henley & Partners’ pioneering intelligence on investment migration trends coupled with New World Wealth’s exclusive wealth migration data offers unparalleled insights into the global movements and preferences of high-net-worth individuals and their families. Each firm has over a decade of research, and together they provide a unique perspective on the intersection of wealth and mobility.

The figures presented in this report are modeled estimates of how many high-net-worth individuals reside in each country, city, or region and should be viewed as illustrative indicators of broad trends that offer valuable insights and directional understanding rather than as precise counts.

Determining Country Wealth Data

New World Wealth uses a country benchmarking model to estimate how many individuals fall into the three different wealth tiers in each country. Rather than relying on a single source, the model brings together several key indicators, including:

• Household income statistics. Data on how much individuals earn across different groups.
• Market capitalization data. The total worth of companies listed on the local stock market.
• Wealth data. Detailed records of high-net-worth individuals from the firm’s in-house database.
• Tax data. Especially information on different income tiers. Anyone with an annual income of more than USD 200,000 is typically considered high-net-worth.
• Number of family offices. Generally, these are only affordable for centi-millionaires and billionaires. We assume that high-net-worth individuals reside in the same country where their family office is located.
• Prime property statistics. The number of highly priced homes in a country or city, which we use as a sanity check on all our data.
  
  

By combining the above metrics, the model estimates both the total wealth held in a country and the number of individuals in each wealth tier. For estimating the top wealth tiers, namely, centi-millionaires and billionaires, the firm predominantly relies on its in-house database of high-net-worth individuals.

The model also maps each country’s historical wealth growth trends by considering:

• Currency movements versus the USD.
• Stock market movements in USD terms.
• High-net-worth individual migration trends.
• Prime property price movements in USD terms, focusing specifically on movements in the price per m².
• GDP per capita trends in USD terms.
  
  

Note: The bulk of liquid investable wealth worldwide is tied up in cash and equities. Large movements in either of these two asset classes therefore impact significantly on the total liquid wealth held in a country. Prime property and GDP per capita trends also provide useful sanity checks to make sure the numbers align with visible wealth on the ground.

Henley & Partners: Investment Migration Intelligence

Henley & Partners has more than 25 years of institutional experience. The firm’s extensive data on investment migration trends is drawn from advising clients from over 100 different nationalities and engaging with enquiries from more than 200 nationalities worldwide.

Henley & Partners tracks the number, nationalities, and locations of wealthy individuals who enquire about and apply for investment migration programs, whether or not they ultimately relocate, as well as trends in program demand and investment, offering unique insights into the motivations and preferences of those seeking additional residence or citizenship options.

Note: For research purposes, Henley & Partners only uses anonymized statistics and never discloses the personal details of the individuals in its database.

New World Wealth: Tracking Wealth Patterns

New World Wealth tracks the movements of over 150,000 high-net-worth individuals in its in-house database, with a special focus on those with over USD 10 million in listed company holdings. The database’s primary focus is on entrepreneurs and company founders (50%+ of the database) and individuals who hold the following positions at high-value companies: chairperson, CEO, president, director, and managing partner.

New World Wealth uses various public sources to check the city locations of the individuals in its database, including LinkedIn, Google AI, company registers, and family office portals. LinkedIn is generally the best source as it is updated in real time by high-net-worth individuals themselves or their personal assistants. LinkedIn has approximately 1 billion members worldwide, and over 70% of the world’s CEOs have active profiles on the platform. 

Note: It should be noted that New World Wealth never discloses the names of the individuals in its database, which it uses purely for in-house statistical studies.

Wealth Definitions

For the purposes of this report:

• The terms ‘millionaires’ or ‘high-net-worth individuals’ (HNWIs) refer to individuals with liquid investable wealth of USD 1 million or more. Millionaire figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
• The term ‘centi-millionaires’ refers to individuals with liquid investable wealth of USD 100 million or more.
• The term ‘billionaires’ refers to individuals with liquid investable wealth of USD 1 billion or more.
• ‘Wealth’ refers to an individual’s liquid investable wealth, which includes listed company holdings, ETFs, cash, bonds, gold, and crypto holdings — namely, items that can be cashed in quickly.
  
  

Wealth Versus GDP

We consider wealth to be a far better measure of the financial health of an economy than GDP. The reasons for this include:

• In many countries, a large portion of GDP flows to government and therefore has little to no impact on private wealth creation.
• GDP counts items multiple times. For instance, if someone is paid USD 100 for a product or a service and they then pay someone else that same USD 100 for another product or service, USD 200 will be added to the country’s GDP, despite the fact that only USD 100 was produced at the start.
• GDP largely overlooks the impact of property and stock market moves, yet these two factors clearly have a significant impact on wealth creation.
• GDP is a relatively static measure that tends to move only slightly year on year. It also has a time lag.
  
  

Wealth figures, on the other hand, have none of these limitations, making them a more accurate gauge of the true financial health of an economy than its GDP figures.

For further information on the benefits of using wealth over GDP as a metric and the key drivers of wealth please see here.

Disclaimer

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This report is distributed for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal, tax, accounting, or investment advice. It should not form the basis of any decision. The information contained in this report is not, and shall not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy or an offer to purchase any securities, nor should it be deemed to be an offer, or a solicitation of an offer, to purchase or sell any investment product or service. Henley & Partners is not responsible for the content of websites and information resources that may be referenced in this report. The information contained in this report is believed to be accurate as of the date of publication, but is subject to change without notice. Henley & Partners does not have any obligation to provide revisions in the event of changed circumstances. Henley & Partners and its affiliates, employees, and agents shall not be liable for any liability or loss whatsoever, including but not limited to direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages, arising out of or in connection with the use or reliance on the information contained in this report. The information in this report is provided “as is” and Henley & Partners makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the information contained in this report for any purpose.

The Africa Wealth Report 2025 was published on 26 August 2025.