Britain has recorded the steepest drop in average wealth per adult among developed economies since 2020, according to new data.
Figures from Swiss bank UBS, published in its latest Global Wealth Report, show that average wealth per adult in Britain fell by 23.2 per cent between 2020 and 2025.
The decline means individual wealth among Britons, calculated using assets such as property, stocks and shares, has dropped by roughly £28,500 over the period.
UBS estimated that median wealth per adult in Britain now stands at around £96,600, including housing wealth, and said the fall was partly driven by higher inflation and rising energy costs.
The bank identified Britain as one of only two wealthier nations where average wealth per adult had fallen “severely” during the period. The other was the Netherlands, where the decline was smaller at 14.36 per cent.
The findings come as households in Britain face what is expected to be the highest tax burden since the Second World War, following an extended freeze on income tax thresholds.
On Monday, Andy Burnham pledged “to strive for equivalent living conditions in all parts of Britain”, saying the idea would draw on Germany’s “basic law”, which contains similar wording.
Where are people getting richer?
The UBS report also highlighted countries where wealth is rising, with South Korea singled out as one of the notable hotspots.
Since 2020, South Korea’s real average wealth per adult has ballooned by more than 55 per cent, according to the findings.
Russia and Croatia also saw average wealth levels rise sharply since 2020, with 37 per cent and 29 per cent hikes respectively.
Meanwhile in Norway, real average wealth per adult increased by 27 per cent between 2020 and 2025. Singapore also fared well, seeing average wealth levels rise by around 20 per cent.
Nine nations, including the UAE, Taiwan and Turkey, saw wealth levels per adult shoot up by over 20 per cent in the period.
Among the G7 economies, Japan saw the biggest spike in median wealth at 55 per cent.
In 15 cases, average wealth per adult dropped, sometimes moderately, such as in Brazil, at minus 3.13 per cent, or in France, at minus 4.52 per cent.
The fall in wealth was more severe in Britain and the Netherlands. In the Netherlands real average wealth per adult fell by 14.36 per cent.
Mexico was the only country to see wealth fall by more than Britain, although only on the mean average measure and not the median.
The figures from UBS showed that the wealth of a typical person in Britain has slumped by more than 23 per cent on both the mean and median measures since 2020.
The figures placed British residents marginally ahead of their French counterparts but behind both Dutch and Italian citizens in terms of personal wealth.
Average wealth per adult levels, as measured by the value of assets such as property and stocks, have been dampened by higher inflation in Britain in recent years.
Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth, said: ‘The UK had a brief period of notably higher inflation than Europe did, and that has distorted the real numbers.
‘You had a couple of years of quite high inflation, partly because of the various peculiarities of our energy pricing structure.’
In 2022, inflation in Britain soared to 11.2 per cent as oil and gas were in greater demand after the Covid-19 pandemic. Energy prices then surged again when Russia invaded Ukraine.
The latest official figures show Britain’s consumer price index inflation rate was 2.8 per cent in April, the same as March, and the Bank of England is expecting it to rise as high as 3.2 per cent later this year.
Donovan told This is Money: ‘Real average wealth trends in the UK outside of the Johnson inflation episode would appear to have been far more normal.’
UBS’ data showed that across Britain less than 60 per cent of the adult population had net assets of more than $100,000, or about £75,500.
Property slowdown hits Britons in the pocket
A slowdown in Britain’s property market has compounded problems for many households.
Donovan said: ‘There is a considerable weight to real estate as a form of wealth because it is the largest asset that most people own. A change in the relative performance of your local real estate market can have a notable bearing on, in particular, the median wealth level over time.’
Total personal wealth globally increased by 10.8 per cent in 2025, up from 4.6 per cent in 2024 and 4.2 per cent in 2023, as strong financial markets boosted growth, UBS found.
Wealth in US dollar terms grew disproportionately quickly in Europe, largely due to last year’s depreciation of the dollar compared to the euro.
Average figures do not necessarily reflect most people’s wealth, because they hide potential disparities in its distribution. Median wealth is known to paint a more accurate picture of the wealth levels prevalent in the middle of the scale.
Biggest asset: A slowdown in the property market has reduced levels of wealth in Britain
Number of millionaires increasing
The data found UBS revealed that more than 2,680 people per day are becoming new millionaires globally.
The bank said it estimated that the number of millionaires had increased by 1.5 per cent in 2025.
The highest growth rates in USD millionaires were found in Eastern Europe, led by Lithuania with an 8 per cent increase year‑on‑year and followed by Turkey, Latvia and Hungary, all with a growth rate above 5 per cent.
Across the US, more than 440,000 new millionaires were created in 2025, UBS said. About 40 per cent of the world’s millionaires live in the US, it added.
In Russia the number of millionaires is believed to have risen by 5.2 per cent year-on-year between 2024 and 2025, with 21,951 added.
In Britain the number of millionaires rose by 1.8 per cent year-on-year, growing by about 43,139 people.
UBS said about 172,000 adults in Britain fall into the £5million to £10million wealth bracket.
UBS said: ‘Not a single nation in our sample of 56 markets has ended the year 2025 with fewer millionaires than it had at the beginning.’
Billionaires also growing
UBS said it counted 3,302 billionaires this year globally, an increase of 383 people and a 13.1 per cent jump on 2025 levels.
Over a thousand of these billionaires reside in the US, 562 in mainland China and 211 in India. Germany and Russia followed with 193 and 122 respectively.
In South Korea and Hungary, the collective wealth of billionaires more than doubled last year, according to the bank.
UBS said 19 billionaires had assets of more than $100 billion, 15 of which are based in the US.
On average, billionaires’ wealth rose by close to 25 per cent in 2026 when compared to 2025 , the bank added.
In six markets the number of billionaires has dropped, shrinking from 25 to 22 in Thailand and from 19 to 16 in Saudi Arabia, on top of four cases in which the reduction was limited to a single individual.
Last month, Elon Musk became the first person in history to become a trillionaire after his firm, SpaceX, was listed in the US.
Musk’s fortune briefly soared to around $1.45trillion on 16 June, but tumbled shortly thereafter, in part, due to a global stock sell-off. He has since restored his trillionaire status after a resurgence in SpaceX and Tesla share prices.
