 "New gold? Why wealthy families are investing in countries, not just stocks")
When volatility becomes the norm, the safest asset isn’t gold or real estate — it’s resilience.
That’s the message from Henley & Partners’ 2025 Global Investment Risk & Resilience Index, which ranks 226 countries on their ability to absorb shocks and adapt to change. The findings show a decisive shift: the world’s affluent are securing residence and citizenship rights in nations that combine low risk with high adaptability — from Switzerland and Singapore to the Caribbean.
The rise of “sovereign diversification” is redefining global wealth strategy — one passport at a time.
According to Henley & Partners’ 2025 Global Investment Risk & Resilience Index (GIRRI), which ranks 226 nations by their ability to absorb and recover from crises, the new frontier of wealth strategy is resilience — and one of the fastest-growing tools to achieve it is the second passport.
The Top 10 Countries in the Global Investment Risk and Resilience Index
The index reveals that nations with robust residence and citizenship programs consistently outperform on resilience metrics — not coincidentally, but structurally.
Across boardrooms, family offices, and private banks, a quiet revolution is underway: high-net-worth individuals and global families are not just diversifying across asset classes — they are diversifying across countries.
Bottom 10 Countries in the Global Investment Risk and Resilience Index
From Portfolios to Passports: The Rise of Sovereign Diversification
The GIRRI, developed by Henley & Partners in partnership with intelligence firm AlphaGeo, blends two critical metrics:
Risk exposure — how vulnerable a country is to geopolitical conflict, regulation, or climate shocks; and
Resilience capacity — its ability to adapt through strong institutions, innovation, and infrastructure.
The findings are striking. The most resilient nations are not necessarily the biggest — they are often smaller, highly governed, and strategically open to global mobility. Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Singapore, and Sweden top the 2025 rankings.
The correlation isn’t accidental. These nations also host some of the world’s most successful residence-by-investment (RBI) and citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programs — structured pathways that allow investors to contribute to national development in exchange for residence or citizenship rights.
As the Henley insights note, such programs have become key contributors to national resilience. The capital inflows from global investors help fund infrastructure, innovation, and climate preparedness — creating a feedback loop where both the nation and the investor grow stronger.
"Ranked 1st worldwide on the Global Investment Risk and Resilience Index with a score of 88.42, Switzerland gives wealthy families an increasingly scarce resource: institutional reliability and confidentiality developed through extended political neutrality and budgetary restraint.
With almost 500 foreign residents employing lump-sum tax arrangements across cantons featuring corporate rates reaching 11.8%, the Swiss model acknowledges that ultra-wealthy families plan across generations. Political continuity and premier private banking services establish conditions where wealth accumulates through multiple generations without political disruption or policy swings," said Dominic Volek, CA(SA), FIMC, is Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners.
Why a Second Passport Matters More Than Ever
For decades, global mobility was a luxury — a perk for the ultra-wealthy seeking tax optimization or lifestyle flexibility.
In 2025, it has become a strategic hedge against uncertainty.
A second passport can provide:
Political and economic stability if a home country faces turmoil;
Access to global markets, education, and healthcare;
Freedom of movement across borders when travel restrictions tighten;
A safety net for families during emergencies, sanctions, or currency collapse.
As Henley & Partners explains in its latest insights report, residence and citizenship programs offer a practical form of “risk insurance.” They empower investors to reposition their wealth — and themselves — across resilient jurisdictions with strong governance and adaptable economies.
In other words: while traditional portfolios diversify assets, sovereign portfolios diversify risk geography.
How the Ultra-Wealthy Are Rewriting the Rulebook
From Singapore to St. Kitts, the demand for global mobility solutions has surged since the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Private wealth managers now treat second citizenship as part of strategic planning — the same way they would evaluate insurance or estate structures.
For instance:
Singapore (ranked 4th globally for resilience) remains a preferred hub for Asian family offices, combining world-class governance with stable taxation and a strong currency.
Switzerland (ranked 1st) continues to attract entrepreneurs seeking political neutrality, banking stability, and global access through its residence programs.
Caribbean nations like Antigua & Barbuda and St. Kitts & Nevis offer fast-track citizenship in exchange for investments that support tourism, education, and renewable energy — a model that directly enhances their economic adaptability.
In Europe, countries such as Portugal, Greece, and Malta have refined residence programs that draw investors seeking access to the EU and long-term lifestyle stability. Even as regulations tighten, these programs remain vital instruments of resilience-building.
“Mobility has become the modern form of freedom,” says Dr. Christian H. Kälin, Chairman of Henley & Partners. “By aligning private capital with public resilience, both investors and host nations are creating sustainable ecosystems that can weather crises together.”
The New Currency of Safety
For global investors, a second passport is no longer a symbol of privilege — it’s a currency of safety.
Unlike volatile assets or cyclical sectors, residency rights hold intrinsic, long-term value: they unlock optionality.
In practical terms, they allow wealthy families to:
Relocate assets to more stable jurisdictions during turbulence;
Protect generational wealth through estate planning and tax efficiency;
Access world-class education and healthcare for future generations;
Diversify across legal, financial, and geopolitical systems.
This form of diversification has become especially relevant as even major economies show vulnerability.
The GIRRI highlights that the U.S. ranks only 32nd, the U.K. 23rd, and India 155th, underscoring that no country is immune from systemic risks.
For many affluent Indians, for instance, residency programs in Singapore, Portugal, or the UAE now serve as part of long-term wealth protection strategies — not tax evasion, but risk mitigation.
Building Resilient Sovereign Portfolios
The concept of a sovereign portfolio— coined by Henley & Partners — goes beyond traditional asset management. It blends:
Financial diversification, across asset classes and currencies;
Geographic diversification, across jurisdictions; and
Mobility diversification, through residence and citizenship options.
And the demand is only growing.
According to Henley’s Global Citizenship Report, inquiries for alternative residence and citizenship increased by over 40% year-on-year, led by investors from India, the Middle East, and Africa — regions facing political volatility, climate stress, or regulatory flux.
What Should You Ask Yourself?
- If you’re a high-net-worth individual or family thinking about this strategy, run through:
- How many jurisdictions do I currently rely on (for residence, business, assets, mobility)?
- What happens if my home country suffers a major shock (climate, regulatory, currency, political)? Do I have a real alternative?
- Do I have mobility rights (residence/ citizenship) in a country with strong governance, low risk exposure and high adaptive capacity?
- Are part of my investments, domicile or family presence located in that resilient fall-back jurisdiction?
- Am I relying solely on asset-class diversification when I should also be diversifying jurisdictions?