Global wealth has increased by about 72% over the past 10 years, according to a new report from Credit Suisse.

The report, published by the Swiss bank’s research institute, finds that, despite the global financial crisis, the bursting of a significant housing bubble, and minimal equity returns over the past 10 years, global net worth per adult rose 43% from US$30,700 in the year 2000 to US$43,800 by mid-2010.

Also, as the population of adults increased from 3.6 billion to 4.4 billion over this period, aggregate household wealth rose by 72%.

“One important factor here was the depreciation of the dollar against most major currencies, which accounts for part of the rise in dollar-denominated values, but average net worth still increased by 24% when exchange rates are held constant,” it notes.

Most countries have seen their wealth grow over this period. Large countries such as the United States and Japan only saw modest gains, and a few countries, such as Iceland and Argentina, have seen their wealth drop.

At the top end however, wealth per adult tripled in Australia, China, New Zealand, Poland and Romania, and is estimated to have risen by a factor of almost five in Indonesia and Russia, it reports.

The leading nations in 2010 are Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Singapore and France, each of which records wealth per adult above US$250,000. Canada ranks eighth in the world in terms of aggregate household wealth and 10th in wealth per adult. Its current wealth level, US$226,000, is slightly behind the United States at US$236,000.

Canadian household wealth contracts

Canada saw a contraction in household wealth due to the financial crisis — almost 30% in U.S. dollar terms — leaving US$-denominated wealth per person still 12% below the 2007 level, the report says; although Canada’s wealth in domestic currency terms is just 2% below the 2007 level.

The report observes that Canada is similar to the U.S. in having more than half of its household wealth in financial assets, although at 56%, it is less than in the U.S., where financial assets make up 67% of total assets.

The wealth distribution in Canada also differs from that of the U.S., it notes. For example, Canada has both a larger fraction with wealth of less than US$1,000 and a larger percentage with wealth over US$100,000. In addition, Canada has a smaller proportion of millionaires in its adult population (3.5%) than the US (4.3%), the report notes.

To count among the wealthiest half of the world, an adult needs only US$4,000 in assets, once debts have been subtracted, the report finds; US$72,000 puts you in the top 10%, and more than US$588,000 is required to count among the top 1%.

Wealth inequality around the world remains quite striking, with the bottom half of the global population controlling less than 2% of global wealth, although it is growing fast for some members of this segment, the report says. The richest 10% own 83% of the world’s wealth, with the top 1% alone accounting for 43% of global assets, the report adds.

IE