# Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individual (UHNWI): Definition and Criteria

![Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individual (UHNWI): A person with a net worth of at least $30 million.](https://www.investopedia.com/thmb/1RNs7Dx9YOkTBI0PMMoYgW-nAtE=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/ultra-high-net-worth-individuals-uhnwi.asp2-f98e0cbfd3154863bbeed8be19bdb5f6.jpg)

*— Investopedia / Jake Shi*

> **Definition**
>
> An ultra-high-net-worth individual (UHNWI) is a person with a net worth of at least $30 million, one of a small but growing segment of the wealthiest individuals globally.

## What Is an Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individual (UHNWI)?

Ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) are people with a net worth of at least $30 million. This category is composed of the wealthiest people in the world. They control a tremendous amount of global wealth. This group of people is small, but it continues to grow.

At the end of 2023, the group totaled 626,600 individuals globally, up 4.2% from a year earlier, according to Knight Frank's 2024 Wealth Report.

### Key Takeaways

*   Ultra-high-net-worth individuals are those with a net worth of at least $30 million, according to Knight Frank.
*   The U.S. is home to the most UHNWIs in the world: 208,560.
*   Most UHNWIs allocate a significant portion of their portfolios to equities, commercial real estate, and bonds. The majority of their wealth stems from the value of their primary and secondary homes.

  

## Some Stats on Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals (UHNWIs)

The U.S. is home to the most UHNWIs: 208,560. The global total is about 626,600 UHNWIs. Though Latin America lost UHNWIs, North America and the Middle East grew by 7.2% and 6.2%, respectively. Europe is still home to the wealthiest 1%.

Women comprise about 11% of UHNWIs globally, according to Altrata. And there has been a 38% rise in female UHNWIs over the past decade, according to Knight Frank.

22% of UHNWIs plan to [buy a home](https://www.investopedia.com/homebuying-guide-4776300) this year, though this is more popular among [millennials](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/millennial.asp) than [baby boomers](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/baby_boomer.asp).

## Examples of UHNWIs

Many of the world's super-rich citizens are self-made individuals. This is evident in Forbes' annually curated list of the [world's richest people](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/112415/who-richest-person-ever.asp). On its World's Real-Time Billionaires List, the magazine ranks the daily worth on its wealth-tracking platform. According to the website, "\[The list\] reflects changes since 5 pm EST of \[the\] prior trading day."

On Forbes' ever-changing list, on October 7, 2024, Elon Musk led the billionaire pack with $262.6 billion. He was followed by:

*   Larry Ellison ($208.8 billion)
*   Mark Zuckerburg (205.6 billion)
*   Jeff Bezos (199.8 billion)

The total worth of billionaires in 2024 tops $14.2 trillion, an increase of $2 trillion (from $12.2 trillion) in 2023. Others near the top of the world's ultra-high-net-worth population include Bernard Arnault and his family, Warren Buffet, and Larry Page.

### 2,781

The number of billionaires in 2024, according to Forbes.

## How UHNWIs Invest

Most UHNWIs do not have their money sitting in [certificates of deposit](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/certificateofdeposit.asp) (CDs), money market accounts, or a [401(k)](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/1/401kplan.asp). Many ultra-high-net-worth individuals store the majority of their wealth in:

*   Primary and secondary homes
*   Stocks and bonds
*   [Venture capital](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/venturecapital.asp) and [private equity](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-careers/09/private-equity.asp)

When Forbes published its list of billionaires for 2024, it pointed out that two-thirds of the billionaires on the list are worth more than they were a year prior, while one-fourth of them are worse off.

## What Defines Ultra-High Net Worth?

[Net worth](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/networth.asp) is the combined value of all of your assets. How much you need to be considered ultra-high net worth will change with time as more people become millionaires and billionaires. For now, the threshold is $30 million.

## How Many People Have an Ultra-High Net Worth?

There are 626,600 ultra-high-net-worth individuals—that is, people with a net worth of over $30 million—according to Knight Frank.

## What Percentage of the U.S. Population Are Millionaires?

Surveys find different figures, but the latest information from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that one in 10 households has a net worth of more than $1.41 million.

## The Bottom Line

Ultra-high-net-worth individuals are defined as people with more than $30 million in net worth. This is measured by combining the value of all assets, not just investable or physical assets.

Hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide met this definition. At the end of 2023, 70 new people became ULNWIs every day. According to Knight Frank's projections, the number of ULNWIs will increase by 28.1% from the end of 2023 to 2028, with particularly high growth in India (50%) and the Chinese mainland (47%).

The number of millionaires in the world continues to grow, so it's safe to say that there will soon be many more UHNWIs. In fact, there are so many that the definition might soon need to be changed.

> **Article Sources**
>
> 1.  Knight Frank. "[The 2024 Wealth Report](https://content.knightfrank.com/resources/knightfrank.com/wealthreport/the-wealth-report-2024.pdf)."
>     
> 2.  Forbes. "[The World's Real-Time Billionaires](https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#4b41fe2b3d78)."
>     
> 3.  Forbes. "[World's Billionaire List | The Richest in 2024](https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/)."
>     
> 4.  U.S. Census Bureau. "[The Wealth of Households: 2020](https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2022/demo/p70br-181.pdf)," Page 2.