Kenya has been ranked after South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria as African countries with the highest number of millionaires.
At the city level, a better percentage of the continent’s rich population are found in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Cairo, and Lagos.
According to the 2024 Africa Wealth Report, Kenya has 7,200 high-net-worth individuals with 4,400 found in Nairobi.
South Africa, which remains home to over twice as many high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) as any other African country, has 37,400 millionaires, 102 centi-millionaires, and 5 billionaires.
Egypt, which is second in the continent, has 15,600 millionaires, 52 centi-millionaires, and 7 billionaires. Nigeria sits in 3rd place with 8,200 HNWIs, Morocco (6,800), Mauritius (5,100), Algeria (2,800), Ethiopia (2,700), Ghana (2,700), and Namibia (2,300), all making it into the Top 10 Wealthiest Countries in Africa.
The Wealth Report reveals that there are currently 135,200 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) with liquid investable wealth of USD 1 million or more living in the continent, along with 342 centi-millionaires worth USD 100 million or more-, and 21-dollar billionaires.
The continent’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% of its billionaires.
“Currency depreciation and underperforming stock markets have chipped away at Africa’s wealth compared to global benchmarks.
The South African rand fell 43% against the US dollar from 2013–2023, and even though the JSE All Share Index, which makes up well over half of the continent’s listed company holdings, rose in local currency terms, it was down 5 per cent in US dollar terms over that period.
Currencies in most other 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,” notes Dominic Volek, Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners.
Head of Research at New World Wealth, Andrew Amoils, adds that nations are also losing large numbers of HNWIs to migration which is eroding the continent’s wealth.
“According to our latest figures, approximately 18,700 high-net-worth individuals have left the continent over the past decade (2013 to 2023).
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.”
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