Japan's ultra-wealthy population is forecast to shrink by 1.8 percent in the five years to 2027, the only member among the Group of Seven industrialized nations to see a decline in the period, a recent report by a British real estate consulting firm showed.
Japan, however, will remain home to the second largest number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals -- a person with a net worth of at least $30 million -- in Asia, behind mainland China, according to the latest annual Wealth Report by Knight Frank.
The number of such super-rich people in Japan, the world's third-largest economy, is estimated at 21,859 in 2027, down from 22,259 in 2022.
A Knight Frank official attributed Japan's shrinking population as one of the main factors for the expected decline.
Japan's population is projected to drop from 125 million in 2022 to 122 million in 2027, representing a 2.3 percent decrease, according to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
Globally, the population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, or UHNWIs, fell 3.8 percent in 2022 from a year before, with many of them seeing their wealth fall amid a series of "shocks" that hit the global economy, such as Russia's war in Ukraine and surging inflation that led to aggressive interest rate hikes.
But the report expects the global UHNWI population to increase by 28.5 percent to around 745,000 in 2027, saying that it believes a peak in interest rates is approaching while expressing optimism about global real estate markets.
By region, Asia is estimated to see its ultra-wealthy population increase by 39.8 percent to about 210,000 in 2027 from 2022.
The Chinese mainland will see the figure grow nearly 50 percent to about 132,000 in 2027 from about 88,000 in 2022.
The United States will continue to have the largest number of such super-rich people, expected to grow 24.6 percent to around 253,000 in 2027.
Most other G-7 countries, including Britain, Germany and Canada, are also expecting a double-digit percentage growth in the number of ultra-wealthy people in the five years to 2027, according to the report.
