Singapore has the highest proportion of millionaires in the world

About 15.5 percent of the households in Singapore has more than 1 million U.S. dollars of investable assets in 2010, the highest proportion in the world, a latest report said.

The global wealth report released by the Boston Consulting Group showed that the number of households with more than 1 million U.S. dollars of assets aside from properties occupied by the owners grew by almost 33 percent from 2009, local media reported on Thursday.

Switzerland is the second with 9.9 percent of its households joining the millionaire club, followed by 8.9 percent for Qatar, 8. 7 percent for China's Hong Kong and 8.5 percent for Kuweit.

The United States was ranked the 7th at 4.5 percent, but it has by far the largest number of millionaire households -- about 5.2 million. In terms of the total number of such households, Japan was the second and China, the third.

For the world as a whole, the proportion of millionaire households was about 0.9 percent, but they owned about 39 percent of the world's wealth, up from 37 percent in 2009.

The Straits Times quoted an economist as saying that a number of factors contributed to the surge in the proportion of its millionaire households.

"Singaporeans saw their wealth surge because of the stronger Singapore dollar, sharp economic rebound and soaring asset prices, including property," said Chua Hak Bin, Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist. "Openness to foreign talent and wealthy 'new' Singaporeans probably also expanded the number of millionaires."

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