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MILLIONAIRES

Sweden home to 125 billionaires

Sweden is now home to 125 billionaires, compared to only 50 ten years ago, according to Veckans Affärer magazine. Number one on the list of those worth over a billion kronor is the founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, with a fortune of 461 billion kronor.

Published: 16 November 2006 15:08 CET

According to Forbes, Kamprad is is the fourth richest person on the planet. His fortune increased by 81 billion just the past year. The next richest Swede is founder of Tetra Pak, Hans Rausing, with a fortune of 87 billion kronor.

Sweden gained 32 new billionaires in the past year. One of the newcomers this year was Niklas Zennström, who sold his share of internet telephony company Skype to Ebay.

Other names on the list are Hennes & Mauritz’s Stefan Persson with 68 billion, Kirsten Rausing, heiress of Tetra Pak with 44 billion, and Christina Stenbeck, who inherited part of her entrepreneur father Jan Stenbeck’s fortune after his death in 2002.

WEALTH

Richest in Germany own around two thirds of country’s wealth

Germany's already high level of wealth inequality has been significantly underestimated, according to a new study.

Published: 15 July 2020 11:20 CEST
Richest in Germany own around two thirds of country's wealth
Photo: DPA

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) has found that the richest one percent in Germany own 35 percent of the total wealth in Germany – instead of just under 22 percent as previously thought, reported Spiegel on Wednesday.

And the top 10 percent of the population do not own 59 percent of total assets, as previously estimated – but around two thirds or 66 percent.

To put it into context, nobody in the bottom 50 percent of the German population has a net worth over €22,800. On average, the poorest 50 percent of the German population has a net worth of €3,700.

Moreover, the so-called Gini coefficient (used to measure inequality) is higher in Germany than previously thought. It is 0.81 instead of 0.78. If this number is zero, all households in a society would have an equally high income. If it is 1, the entire income goes to a single household, while everyone else receives nothing.

“Germany's already high wealth inequality has been significantly underestimated,” said Johannes König, one of the authors. “We are now seeing for the first time a more realistic picture of the distribution at the top.”

READ ALSO: This is how many millionaires live in Germany

Millionaires significantly more satisfied than the rest of the population

DIW researchers developed took a closer look at the group of wealthy millionaires in Germany.

This group includes an above-average number of men (69 percent) who are older and better educated than the average population, and who live for the most part in western Germany. Around three quarters of the millionaires are self-employed. A large part of their wealth is invested in company shares.

According to Zeit Online, the respondents earn more than €7,600 net per month, more than three times the average. Only 14 percent have a migration background. For the rest of the population this applies to every fourth person.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, scientists found that wealthy millionaires are significantly more satisfied than the rest of the population. Only with regard to leisure time was satisfaction lower.

READ ALSO: Who belongs to the top 10 percent of earners in Germany?

According to the authors, this is due to the significantly higher workload. The survey found millionaires work an average of 47 hours a week – around 10 hours more than the rest of the population.

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