Taiwanese households are the second richest in Asia and ranked No. 5 in the world in net financial assets per capita in the latest wealth report by the Allianz Group.
According to the German multinational financial services company’s latest report, titled “Allianz Global Wealth Report 2023,” net financial assets, which correspond to financial assets minus liabilities, decreased globally by 2.7%, while Asia, excluding Japan and China, grew by 4.3%. The per capita net financial assets owned by Taiwanese in 2022 amounted to 141,600 euros (US$149,000), an annual increase of approximately 3.1%.
According to Allianz statistics, the wealthiest country in the world is the U.S., with net financial assets reaching 251,800 euros, followed in order by Switzerland, Denmark, Singapore, and Taiwan. Japan ranked 11th, South Korea ranked 22nd, and China ranked 34th.
Japan barely managed a meager growth rate of 0.2%. China grew “robustly” by 6.9%, but significantly less than the 13.3% seen last year.
Among the top five richest countries in the world, only Singapore and Taiwan had positive growth in net financial assets in 2022. Singapore grew 3.9%, Taiwan grew 3.1%, the U.S. declined 8.9%, Switzerland dipped 4.4%, and Denmark saw the biggest drop at 9.9%.
Allianz stated that gross financial assets per household in Taiwan increased by 3.6% in 2022, a significant drop from the 12.7% growth seen in the previous year. The primary reason for this was a 5.5% decrease in the value of securities within the asset classes.
The other two major asset classes continued to grow: insurance/pensions increased by 7.7%, and bank deposits grew by 6.6%, with both of them growing at an even faster rate than in 2021. Although financial assets had increased by 27.4% before the outbreak of the pandemic in 2019, this was only a nominal increase. Adjusted for inflation, the growth rate decreased to 21.6% over three years.
Taiwan’s debt growth slowed to 6.3% compared to 7.9% in 2021. However, the debt-to-GDP ratio continued to rise, reaching a historic high of 92%.
In Asia, only South Korean households have higher debt levels than Taiwanese. Nevertheless, since Taiwanese households have financial assets that are six times larger than their debt, this situation is not a major cause for concern.
Source: Taiwan News
