The Africa Wealth Report 2024 reveals that South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco are the countries that are home to around half of the millionaires (with fortunes of more than one million dollars) living in Africa, with the city of Johannesburg remaining the richest metropolis on the African continent, although it warns that in the coming decades Cape Town could top the list.
According to the document, published by Henley & Partners and the consultancy New World Wealth, there are 135,200 millionaires (individuals with wealth of more than one million dollars) living in Africa. The five major wealth centres – South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco – account for an aggregate of 56% of all millionaires and more than 90% of billionaires (with a fortune of more than one billion dollars).
By country, South Africa is still home to more than twice as many millionaires (37,400) as any other African country, despite a 20 per cent decline in the last decade. It is followed by Egypt (15 600), Nigeria (8 200), Kenya (7 200), Morocco (6800), Mauritius (5100), Algeria (2800), Ethiopia (2700), Ghana (2700) and Namibia (2300).
Mauritius and Namibia are the countries that could grow the most over the next decade
Analyst Dominic Volek, from Henley & Partners, emphasises that the growth of wealth on the continent has not been without its setbacks. “Currency devaluation and poor stock market performance have been reducing wealth. For example, the South African rand fell 43 per cent against the US dollar between 2013-23 and the currencies of most other African countries have also lost value in the last ten years, with depreciations of more than 75 per cent in Nigeria, Egypt, Angola and Zambia.”
Andrew Amoils of New World Wealth adds that African nations are also losing a large number of residents with high purchasing power. “According to our data there are 18,700 millionaires and 54 billionaires who have left Africa in the last decade (2013-23), including one of the world’s richest, South Africa’s Elon Musk. Most have moved to the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and the United Arab Emirates. They are followed by France, Switzerland, Monaco, Portugal, Canada, New Zealand and Israel”.
Over the next decade (until 2033), analysts predict that Mauritius, Namibia, Morocco, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda will see an increase of more than 80 per cent in the number of millionaires. Among them, the highlight goes to Mauritius which, due to its stable governance and favourable tax regime, is expected to see a growth rate of 95%. And also Namibia, which is expected to grow by 85 per cent by 2033 as a result of attracting global investors.
Johannesburg, Cape Town and Cairo are Africa’s richest cities
By city, Johannesburg remains the richest in Africa, with 12,300 millionaires. Also in the top five are Cape Town (7400), Cairo (7200), Nairobi (4400) and Lagos (4200). The highlight clearly goes to South Africa, which managed to place five cities (or regions) in the top ten. Luanda is also well placed in 12th place, as is Dar Es Salaam in 16th.
Worldwide, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Singapore, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Sydney, Hong Kong and Beijing lead the top ten, in that order.
As for the African cities and regions that will attract the most millionaires over the next decade, the analysts believe that Cape Town and the Whale Coast region in South Africa, Kigali (Rwanda), Windhoek and Swakopmund (Namibia), Nairobi (Kenya), Marrakech and Tangier (Morocco) should see growth of more than 85 per cent.
“Solid growth of over 80 per cent is also expected in Lusaka (Zambia) and Mombasa (Kenya). Cape Town is on track to overtake Johannesburg and become Africa’s richest city by 2030. We expect several large companies located in Johannesburg to move their headquarters to Cape Town over the next decade, which should help boost their wealth growth,” said Andrew Amoils.
Jaime Fidalgo
