China, India top list of migrating millionaires

Other countries with large-scale migration of HNIs in this period included France, Italy , Russia, Indonesia, South Africa and Egypt

About 61,000 wealthy ('high net worth' individuals, or HNIs) migrated from this country in the past 14 years, largely to United Arab Emirates, Britain, America and Australia.

India ranks next to China in millionaire migration; the latter had 91,000 of these moving out between 2000 and 2014, says a survey by New World Wealth, a Johannesburg-based consultancy that specialises in the wealth sector. America, Hong Kong, Singapore and Britain were popular destinations for Chinese HNIs.

Other countries with large-scale migration of HNIs in this period included France (42,000), Italy (23,000), Russia (20,000), Indonesia (12,000), South Africa (8,000) and Egypt (7,000). The survey noted a surge in second citizenship applications since the turn of the century. "Major reasons include turmoil in the home country, security concerns and optimising the education of children," said Nadia Read, head of world residence and citizenship platform, LIO Global.

The survey was conducted by comparing the domicile of a sample of approximately 60,000 global HNIs in 2000 with the same sample in 2014. Millionaires or HNIs refer to individuals with net assets worth $1 million (Rs 6.3 crore) or more, excluding their primary residences.

Britain was the biggest beneficiary of migrating millionaires, with a net inflow of 125,000 in 2000-2014 . This was followed by the United States (52,000), Singapore (46,000), Australia (35,000), Hong Kong (29,000), UAE (18,000), Canada (17,000), and Turkey (12,000).

The report says the United Kingdom, particularly London, had become a hub for moving millionaires. This was due to a number of favourable factors such as the language, international nature of the city, ease of travel, ease of moving money into the country, ease of buying property and the quality of schooling and universities.

Singapore has benefited from its location - near the fastest growing millionaire markets such as China, Indonesia and India - and its low tax structure, apart from the international nature of the city, the report said.

The US headed the list of countries with millionaires in 2014 (41,05,000), followed by Japan (12,55,400), the UK (8,40,000), Germany (8,21,900) and China (6,08500). India occupied 10th place with 226,800 millionaires in 2014, according to the NW Wealth report.