Best places to become a millionaire

September 28, 2011, 12:22 pmCBS Moneywatch

Over the next decade, the number of millionaire households is expected to almost double in Australia.

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Granted, $1 million apparently isn't the iconic signal of rich it once was, but it's not exactly chump change either. Especially in countries where $1 million buys you a whole lot more than it does in say, the U.S, Australia or Japan. It's also a nice round number that makes wealth managers take note. So to that end, the Deloitte Center for Financial Services, with an assist from Oxford Economics, took a look at total household wealth, including the value of a primary residence and business equity, to see where wealth managers should focus their marketing efforts in the coming years. All local values were converted to U.S. dollars for comparison's sake.
Here are the 2011 and projected 2020 rankings of countries with the most millionaire households:

The study showed that Australia will have entered the top 10 countries with the most millionaire households by 2020. The lucky country’s current group of 698,000 millionaire households is expected to swell to 1,620,000 by 2020. When you consider that all the other countries in the top 10 have significantly larger populations, Australia should be pretty chuffed about the projections. China for example, which has more than 50 times the population of Australia, is only expected to have twice as many millionaires. (For related reading, see Tinkler Tops Young Rich List)
South Korea, which ranks 15th this year (520,000 millionaire households), is pegged to have the most impressive growth over the next 10 years. An estimated 1.73 million millionaire households in 2020 will push it all the way up to 9th, according to Deloitte.
The total number of millionaires is expected to grow by 72.5 percent between 2011 and 2020 among the 25 countries in the study. But in a sign that the rich do indeed keep getting richer, the total assets among developed country's households is expected to rise by an even higher 120 percent. (For related reading, see The Richest People In America)
In terms of total wealth, it's the large developed nations that have had decades, if not centuries, to accumulate wealth that are expected to still dominate in the coming decade:

Among the millionaire households, the wealthiest per household by 2020 are expected to be in Switzerland, Singapore, and the U.S.
While these sorts of studies are interesting - OK, they are more fun/depressing cocktail chatter - one shortcoming of these rankings are that they don't account for variance in the cost of living across borders. For example, Deloitte noted in its footnotes that $1 million in the U.S. feels more like $1.8 million in China in terms of its purchasing power. (One more shortcoming of note: inflation is not part of the calculations, either.) (For a related reading, see Failed Celebrity Businesses)

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Liz07:53am Thursday 29th September 2011 ESTReport AbuseIs anyone going to log on in 2020 and check to see if they were right?
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chanita08:16am Thursday 29th September 2011 ESTReport AbuseCanberra is the best place to becom a millionaire...Just put on a tie and lie lie lie...in 10 years time comes the taxfunded retirement pie
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Yahoo Serious08:22am Thursday 29th September 2011 ESTReport AbuseWhat about the small corrupt African countries with 99% of the wealth held by 1% of the population?
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peter08:37am Thursday 29th September 2011 ESTReport AbuseWhat a load of rubbish. Millionaire households in Australia are only due to the rising cost of housing which, by most estimates, is grossly over valued. a millionaire is a person who, if they sell all they own and pay all their debts still have over 1 million dollars, so this just proves that at present, Australians may be asset rich but are cash poor. It only works if you sell up and move to another country.
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Roberto C09:03am Thursday 29th September 2011 ESTReport AbuseStandards of living have gone up. Even a couple that make $150K a year bemoans losing any concessions they might be getting. It is not enough to have one black and white TV and a radio these days. We want iPad, mobile phones, computers, subscription to foxtel, internet, and etc... So we need incomes to suit.
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For09:20am Thursday 29th September 2011 ESTReport AbuseNot even a single mention of India... I thought India and China were the two countries to watch in the next decade. I guess if corrupt millionaires paid their taxes the cart may be different. All that undeclared incomes will show a whole lot people pop up in corrupt countries.
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F09:28am Thursday 29th September 2011 ESTReport AbuseOne reason im going back to Switzerland???????????
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Vinn09:36am Thursday 29th September 2011 ESTReport AbuseWhat a load of rubbish...totally biased to the developed countries...India probably has the highest number of millionaires than any other country in the world by far!! so many African countries not mentioned above either!
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John09:54am Thursday 29th September 2011 ESTReport Abusewell i will just keep on wishing
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Sam10:16am Thursday 29th September 2011 ESTReport AbuseAs much as I'd love people to gain wealth and enjoy life with comfort and luxury, it's not an encouraging sign for the majority of the people in Australia (also in those 10 countries) to have extreme riches which automatically reflects the gap between rich and poor and believe you me, the rich and poor gap is getting significantly bigger, similar to the US. I've been to some of the above listed countries and "the gap" there are much bigger than in Australia. I just...
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