By Bosphorus News Türkiye Desk
Türkiye recorded the world's second fastest percentage increase in dollar millionaires in 2025, according to the Global Wealth Report 2026 published by Swiss bank UBS on June 30. Eastern Europe posted the fastest growth rates globally, led by Lithuania at 8 percent, followed by Türkiye, Latvia and Hungary.
Türkiye's millionaire population expanded by 6.4 percent over the year, with roughly 5,650 individuals crossing the one million dollar threshold and bringing the country's total to nearly 93,000, according to figures reported by Turkish daily Karar. The performance extends a pattern from the previous edition of the report, when Türkiye topped the global ranking with an 8.4 percent increase that added 7,000 new millionaires.
The global backdrop was exceptionally strong. Personal wealth worldwide rose by 10.8 percent in dollar terms in 2025, far outpacing the 4.6 percent growth of 2024, with nearly one million new millionaires created globally, more than 2,600 per day. The United States accounted for almost half of the newly created millionaires, adding more than 440,000 individuals, and over half of global personal wealth remained concentrated in the United States and mainland China combined. The world's total millionaire population now stands at roughly 57.5 million, with more than 23.6 million living in the US.
The headline figures conceal a less flattering picture for typical households. UBS reported that median wealth, a measure more representative of ordinary adults than the average, declined across the majority of countries it tracked even as averages climbed. The bank also noted that dollar weakness against major currencies significantly inflated wealth figures measured in dollars for non-US markets.
For Türkiye, the divergence is structural. Previous UBS data showed a Gini coefficient of 0.73, placing the country among the ten most unequal in the bank's sample, with household wealth largely tied to real estate rather than financial assets. Rapid millionaire creation alongside stagnant median wealth points to gains concentrated at the top of the distribution.
UBS noted that growth was particularly strong in wealth segments above 5 million dollars, a fast expanding tier within the global affluent population. The report draws on data from 56 markets that the bank estimates account for over 92 percent of the world's wealth.
Sources: UBS Global Wealth Report 2026, June 30, 2026. Karar, July 2, 2026. Quartz, July 1, 2026. Daily Sabah, June 20, 2025. Turkish Minute, June 19, 2025.