Seoul Drops from 19th to 24th Among Wealthy Cities in Their 50s... Millionaire Exodus

Number of Millionaires in Seoul Drops by 16,500
Won-Dollar Exchange Rate Surges 14% Last Year
Outflow of High-Net-Worth Individuals Accelerates

Seoul experienced the largest drop, falling five places in the ranking of the world's 50 wealthiest cities. This was due to the won-dollar exchange rate rising by 14% last year, which devalued assets when converted to US dollars, as well as the continued outflow of South Korean millionaires from the country.

According to the annual report on the "50 Wealthiest Cities" by UK investment immigration consultancy Henley & Partners and asset information firm New World Wealth on the 11th, the number of millionaires living in Seoul as of December last year was 66,000, a decrease of 16,500 from the previous year (82,500). This represents 68% of the number at the end of 2022 (97,000), maintaining a two-year consecutive outflow trend. The city ranking based on the number of millionaires also fell five places from 19th to 24th last year.

In this statistic, a millionaire is defined as a person whose "investable liquid assets"?excluding real estate but including publicly traded stocks, cash holdings, and virtual assets?amount to at least 1 million US dollars (approximately 1.47 billion won at last year's exchange rate). At the end of last year, the dollar-won exchange rate in the Seoul foreign exchange market was 1,472.5 won based on the weekly closing price, up 184.5 won (14%) from 1,288.0 won a year earlier. An increase in the exchange rate means a depreciation of the won.

The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals also declined. The number of billionaires in Seoul with assets of 100 million US dollars (approximately 147 billion won) or more was 148, down from 195 the previous year. The growth rate of millionaires compared to ten years ago was 17%, significantly lower than the previous decade's growth rate of 28% (2013?2023).

New World Wealth, which prepared the report, pointed out that while the depreciation of the won had a major impact, the political instability in South Korea also contributed to the outflow of many high-net-worth individuals abroad. In fact, according to a separate estimate by Henley & Partners on the net outflow of millionaires by country in 2024, South Korea ranked fourth worldwide with 1,200 millionaires leaving, following China (15,200), the UK (9,500), and India (4,300). The destinations favored by the wealthy were analyzed to be the United States, Australia, and Canada.

Meanwhile, the city with the highest number of wealthy individuals in the world in this report was New York City, USA (384,500), followed by the San Francisco Bay Area (342,400), Tokyo, Japan (292,300), Singapore (242,400), and Los Angeles, USA (220,600).