Australia has become a magnet for millionaire migrants, according to a new analysis.

For the fourth year in a row, Australia topped the list of countries attracting the most number of migrants with more than $US1 million in personal wealth.

In 2018, more than 12,000 millionaires moved down under, compared with 10,000 who were welcomed by the second placed United States.

Within the US, more than 1,000 millionaires chose to move to each of New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Canada saw 4,000 millionaires added to its population while Switzerland, the UAE, the Caribbean Islands each saw an inflow of 2,000.

Spain, Portugal, Greece, Israel, New Zealand and Singapore each saw an inflow of 1,000.

The data, collated by the ‘AfrAsian Global Wealth Migration Review’, maps the migration of the world’s millionaires and shows which countries are magnets for the world’s rich and which countries are seeing a wealth exodus.

Familiar tax-haven locations like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands are continuing to attract the wealthy, but nowhere is experiencing inflows of high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) like Australia.

The review lists several attributes and advantages that make Australia an attractive destination for migrating millionaires.

We have a robust economy, we are perceived as being a safe place to raise a family. Australia has no inheritance tax and a lower cost of health care, which can make it an attractive alternative to the US.

In 2018, Australia jumped ahead of both Canada and France to become the seventh largest wealth market in the world.

Greece, which was one of the worst performing wealth markets of the last decade, is finally seeing a modest inflow of millionaires again.

The review says the world’s wealthiest people are also the most mobile.

It says HNWIs – deemed to be people with wealth over US$1 million – decide to move for a number of reasons.

“In some cases they are attracted by jurisdictions with more favourable tax laws, or less pollution and crime. Sometimes, they’re simply looking for a change of scenery,” the review says.

It says China has become the source of most millionaire migrants with 15,000 leaving in 2018.

It’s no secret that China has seen a burgeoning wealthy class over the past two decades.

And while a large number of Chinese citizens are becoming very wealthy, more than ever before, they chose to migrate to other countries in 2018, the review says.

It says that wealthy citizens have the means to leave when things start to become problematic in their homelands and a rise in HNWI migration from a country can be an indicator of negative economic or social factors.

This may be the case with Turkey, which has been beset by political instability, mass protests and an inflation rate that some observers say is in triple-digits.

In 2018 and for the third straight year, Turkey lost more than 4,000 millionaires – around 10 per cent of the country’s HNWIs.

This is concerning, the review says, because unlike China and India, the country is not producing new millionaires in any significant number.

Meanwhile, 7,000 millionaires left Russia and 5,000 left India.

The United Kingdom and France each lost 3,000 HNWIs and Saudi Arabia 1,000.

This graphic, produced by the investment blog ‘visualcapitalist.com’ using data from the review, shows where the world’s millionaires are migrating to and from.

Laurie Nowell 

AMES Australia Senior Journalist