One percent of millionaires now control more than a third of all millionaire wealth
Em 2026, o mundo chegou a 25,3 milhões de milionários — um recorde que não surgiu do trabalho de muitos, mas dos algoritmos de poucos. Impulsionada pelos mercados de ações aquecidos pela inteligência artificial, a riqueza global desse grupo saltou 8,7%, atingindo US$ 98,3 trilhões. É um marco que revela menos sobre prosperidade compartilhada e mais sobre a geometria da concentração: quanto mais alto o andar, mais rápido o elevador sobe.
- A inteligência artificial tornou-se a maior máquina de criação de riqueza do planeta, impulsionando ganhos em cinco das seis regiões globais estudadas.
- A concentração é vertiginosa: apenas 1% dos milionários controla 34,8% de toda a riqueza desse grupo — uma fração dentro de uma fração que dita o peso do todo.
- A Ásia-Pacífico liderou o crescimento com alta de 9,4%, puxada pela força dos semicondutores no Japão e na China, enquanto os EUA sozinhos adicionaram 736 mil novos milionários.
- O Oriente Médio foi a única região a recuar, com queda de 1,4% no número de milionários — reflexo direto do colapso dos preços do petróleo no ano anterior.
- No topo da pirâmide, os 'super-ricos' — com patrimônio acima de US$ 30 milhões — cresceram na mesma velocidade que a base, chegando a 250 mil pessoas, sinalizando que a acumulação acelera justamente onde já é mais intensa.
O número de milionários no mundo chegou a 25,3 milhões em 2026, com patrimônio combinado de US$ 98,3 trilhões — cerca de 495,5 trilhões de reais —, representando um salto de 8,7% e o maior crescimento anual desde 2018. O motor dessa expansão foi claro: os avanços em inteligência artificial aqueceram os mercados de ações em quase todas as regiões do globo.
A pesquisa da Capgemini, que ouviu mais de 6.500 indivíduos de alto patrimônio líquido nas Américas, Europa, Ásia-Pacífico e Oriente Médio, revelou que os ganhos em ações ligadas à IA foram o principal gerador de riqueza para os abastados. Mas por trás dos números de crescimento, a concentração se aprofundou: 1% dos milionários passou a controlar 34,8% de toda a riqueza desse grupo.
Regionalmente, a Ásia-Pacífico liderou com alta de 9,4%, impulsionada pelo setor de semicondutores no Japão e na China. A América do Norte veio logo atrás, com crescimento de 9,1% — os EUA sozinhos somaram 736 mil novos milionários, totalizando 8,7 milhões. Europa cresceu 6,5%, enquanto África e América Latina avançaram de forma mais tímida. O Oriente Médio foi a exceção: registrou queda de 1,4%, diretamente ligada ao colapso do petróleo no ano anterior.
No topo da pirâmide, os 'super-ricos' — com patrimônio acima de US$ 30 milhões — também cresceram 9,4%, chegando a 250 mil pessoas. O dado sugere que a riqueza não apenas se expande, mas se concentra com intensidade crescente entre os que já ocupam o andar mais alto.
The world's millionaire class swelled to 25.3 million people in 2026, a milestone that arrived alongside a surge in total wealth that outpaced even the optimistic projections of a year prior. The combined net worth of this global cohort climbed to $98.3 trillion—a figure that translates to roughly 495.5 trillion Brazilian reais—representing an 8.7 percent jump and marking the largest annual gain since 2018.
The engine driving this expansion was unmistakable: stock markets powered by artificial intelligence breakthroughs. Across five of the six major geographic regions studied, equity gains tied to AI development proved to be the primary wealth generator for the affluent. The Capgemini research team, which conducted interviews with 6,510 high-net-worth individuals across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East, documented this pattern with precision. Yet beneath the headline growth lay a more unsettling reality. The concentration of this wealth had only tightened: just one percent of the world's millionaires now controlled 34.8 percent of all millionaire wealth globally.
Regional patterns revealed where the new money was clustering. Asia-Pacific led the charge with a 9.4 percent increase in its millionaire population, a surge fueled largely by the semiconductor sector's strength in Japan and China. North America followed closely, posting a 9.1 percent gain, with the United States alone accounting for 736,000 newly minted millionaires—bringing the American total to 8.7 million people. Europe added millionaires at a 6.5 percent clip, while Africa and Latin America grew more modestly at 4.1 and 0.3 percent respectively.
One region bucked the trend entirely. The Middle East saw its millionaire count decline by 1.4 percent, a contraction directly tied to the previous year's collapse in oil prices. For a region whose wealth had long been tethered to petroleum markets, the shift underscored the vulnerability of fortunes built on a single commodity.
At the apex of the wealth pyramid, an even more rarefied group was expanding at the same breakneck pace as the broader millionaire class. The super-rich—defined as individuals holding at least $30 million in net worth—swelled by 9.4 percent to reach approximately 250,000 people worldwide. This parallel surge at the top suggested that wealth accumulation was not merely spreading across the millionaire tier but concentrating with particular intensity among those already positioned at the summit. The data painted a portrait of a global economy in which artificial intelligence had become the primary mechanism for wealth creation, and in which the benefits of that creation were flowing overwhelmingly toward those already positioned to capture them.
Citações Notáveis
Stock markets powered by artificial intelligence gains were the primary wealth driver for affluent individuals across five of six major regions— Capgemini research
The top 1% of millionaires control 34.8% of all millionaire wealth globally— Capgemini analysis
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
What strikes you most about these numbers—the growth itself, or the concentration?
The concentration. Twenty-five million millionaires sounds like a lot until you realize one percent of them hold more than a third of the wealth. That's not a broad-based expansion. That's a narrowing.
Why did the Middle East decline when everywhere else grew?
Oil. When petroleum prices fell the year before, the region's wealth engine stalled. It's a reminder that not all wealth is created equal—some is tied to markets, some to commodities, and when your fortune depends on one thing, you're vulnerable.
The AI story seems to be the real driver here. How much of this growth is actually tied to that?
In five of six regions, stock market gains from AI were the primary engine. So most of it. But that also means the wealth is concentrated in sectors and geographies where AI is booming—which is why Asia-Pacific and North America are pulling away.
What about the super-rich population growing at the same rate as millionaires overall?
That's the telling part. If wealth were spreading, you'd expect the super-rich to grow slower. Instead, they're growing at the same pace. The money is flowing upward, not outward.