The Africa Wealth Report 2024 has placed Namibia among the ten wealthiest countries in Africa.
New World Wealth is currently the only known independent wealth research firm systematically tracking global wealth migration trends between countries and cities.
The firm tracks the movements of over 150 000 high-net-worth individuals in its in-house database, with a special focus on those with over $30 million in listed company holdings.
Namibia has a population of three million, out of which 2 300 have been recorded to be millionaires but no billionaires have been recorded.
According to the report released by New World Wealth in collaboration with Henley & Partners, Africa has 21 billionaires and a total of 135 200 millionaires.
“Africa’s ‘Big 5’ wealth markets — South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Morocco — together account for 56% of the continent’s millionaires and over 90% of its billionaires,” says the report.
Predictions made by the report show that over the next ten years, the likes of Mauritius, Namibia, Morocco, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda are all expected to experience 80%+ millionaire growth.
Namibia is expected to exceed 85% by 2033 in its high-net-worth growth
“Both Mauritius and Namibia offer investment migration pathways to attract global investors,” says the report.
Henley & Partners head of private clients Dominic Volek says due to currency depreciation, wealth growth on the continent has not been without its setbacks.
“Currency depreciation and underperforming stock markets have chipped away at Africa’s wealth compared to global benchmarks.
Currencies in most other African countries also performed poorly compared to the dollar over the past ten years, with dramatic depreciations of over 75% recorded in Nigeria, Egypt, Angola, and Zambia,” says Volek.
New World Wealth head of research Andrew Amoils says African nations are also losing large numbers due to migration, which is eroding the continent’s wealth.
“According to our latest figures, approximately 18 700 high-net-worth individuals have left Africa over the past decade, from 2013 to 2023.
“There are currently 54 African-born billionaires in the world, including one of the world’s richest, Elon Musk, but only 21 of them still live on the continent.
Most of these individuals have relocated to the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
Significant numbers have also moved to France, Switzerland, Monaco, Portugal, Canada, New Zealand and Israel,” he says.
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