According to the recently released Africa Wealth Report by Henley & Partners, in partnership with New World Wealth, significant discrepancies in wealth distribution persist across the continent, leaving only a small minority of the population living in opulence.

With a total population of 1.4 billion people, the report highlights that only a tiny fraction of just 138,000 individuals on the continent have a net worth of $1 million or more, while the number of people with a net worth surpassing $100 million and $1 billion stands at a meager 328 and 23, respectively.

The discrepancy between the number of individuals in Africa with a net worth of $1 million or more compared to countries such as the United States, China, Japan, the UK, and France is strikingly significant.

In fact, according to Statista, the total number of people with a net worth of $1 million or more in the United States and China alone is 24.48 million and 6.19 million, respectively.

These findings underscore not only the extreme wealth concentration among a privileged minority in Africa, but also highlight the pressing need for policies and initiatives to promote greater economic growth and prosperity across the continent and address the substantial wealth gap that currently exists.

Facts and figures from the Africa Wealth Report

The latest report by Henley & Partners revealed that the investable wealth currently held on the African continent amounts to a staggering $2.4 trillion, with an anticipated 42 percent rise in the millionaire population over the next decade.

The report further highlights that the “Big 5” wealth markets in Africa — South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Morocco — account for 56 percent of the continent’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and over 90 percent of its billionaires.

Despite facing challenging economic conditions in the past decade, South Africa still maintains its status as home to over twice the number of HNWIs compared to any other African country, with an impressive 30 percent of the continent’s centi-millionaires.

Egypt, on the other hand, boasts the highest number of billionaires, and Mauritius has the highest wealth per capita in Africa, with an average wealth of $37,500 per person.

What you should know about the growing wealth gap on the continent

Earlier this year, Oxfam’s report unveiled alarming statistics regarding wealth inequality in Nigeria. The report revealed that the combined net worth of three of the country’s richest individuals surpasses that of 83 million Nigerians.

Additionally, the firm also revealed that the four richest families, previously identified as the Bhimji Depar Shah and Jaswinder Singh Bedi families, as well as the Uhuru family and the family of late Kenyan tycoon Naushad Merali, have a combined wealth of $2.8 billion.

Shockingly, this amount exceeds the total wealth of the bottom 40 percent of Kenya’s poorest 22 million individuals.

Ultra-rich advocate progressive wealth taxes to tackle global inequalities

A group of more than 100 millionaires and billionaires from nine countries has issued an open letter in an effort to tackle the growing wealth gap, calling for the implementation of permanent annual wealth taxes on the ultra-rich.

The aim is to reduce extreme inequality and raise revenue for essential public services such as healthcare.

A progressive wealth tax, as recommended by a comprehensive analysis conducted by the Fight Inequality Alliance, Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam, and Patriotic Millionaires could generate a substantial $2.52 trillion annually.

This proposed wealth tax would start at a modest two percent for millionaires and escalate to five percent for billionaires.

The additional revenue generated by this measure could help uplift 2.3 billion people out of poverty and ensure universal healthcare and social protection for all low- and lower-middle-income country citizens, totaling 3.6 billion individuals.