Report ranks Tanzania 7th in number of dollar millionaires in Africa

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has been ranked seventh in terms of the number of dollar millionaires, according to a report by research firm New World Wealth and Henley & Partners which helps high-net-worth individuals to acquire residence or citizenship through investment.

The Africa Wealth Report 2022 indicates that Tanzania has 2,400 individuals with a net worth of over $1 million (Sh2.3 billion).

More than half of the dollar millionaires (1,300) reside in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam as the city was ranked 12th richest, with total private citizens wealth of $24 billion (Sh55 trillion).

The population of Tanzania’s dollar millionaires in the study is significantly higher than estimates in other reports, indicating the difficulty of tracking the wealthy in Africa.

The Africa Wealth Report 2022 drew from intelligence gathered by New World Wealth as well as Henley & Partners’ database of high-net-worth individuals, comprising mainly of people with the title of director, CEO, founder and partner.

South Africa has the highest number of dollar millionaires at 39,300 followed by Egypt (16,900) and Nigeria (10,000), according to the first wealth report by Henley.

Tanzania was ranked seventh again in terms of those with a net worth of $10 million (Sh23 billion) or more. Tanzania has 80 such individuals, behind Ghana (120) Morocco (220) Kenya (340) Nigeria (510), Egypt (880) and South Africa (2,080).

Tanzania is ranked sixth in terms of the population of individuals with a net worth of at least $100 million (Sh230 billion), also known as centi-millionaires.

There are eight such individuals behind Kenya (15) Morocco (22), Nigeria (28), Egypt (57) and South Africa (94).

In the report, Tanzania is the only East African country with a dollar billionaire after it failed to identify such individuals in Kenya, Uganda and other EAC countries.

Egypt leads with seven dollar billionaires, followed by South Africa (five), Nigeria (four) and Morocco (three) and Tanzania (One).

In terms of wealth held by private citizens, Tanzania has $56 billion (Sh128.8 trillion) and is ranked seventh. South African citizens have the greatest combined wealth at $651 billion by private citizens, followed by Egypt ($307 billion) and Nigeria ($228 billion).

“Total wealth refers to the private wealth held by all the individuals living in a country, including all their assets (property, cash, equities and business interests) less any liabilities. We exclude government funds from our figures,” the report says.

Tanzania is 12th as measured by the wealth of the average citizen. Wealth per capita in the country stands at slightly above Sh2 million, something that underlines the gap between ordinary citizens and the super-rich.

Mauritius is the richest in Africa with a wealth per capita of $34,500, followed by South Africa ($10,970), Namibia ($9,320), Botswana ($7,880), Morocco ($3,380), Egypt ($3,000) and Ghana ($1,890).

Economic vibrancy and population size are the key determinants of average wealth.

A highly populated country with a weak economy will have a low wealth per capita while a small rich nation has a high average wealth.

This, for instance, saw Kenya beat Nigeria whose wealth per capita stood at $1,100.

Despite being the largest economy on the continent, Nigeria was also beaten by South Africa in the population of dollar millionaires and billionaires. Wealth in the country has traditionally been concentrated in Dar es Salaam, which hosted government operations until six years ago and most industries and financial institutions.

Africa’s two wealthiest cities are in South Africa. Johannesburg is the wealthiest, with total private wealth of $239 billion, followed by Cape Town with total private wealth of $131 billion.

The report says the population of the wealthy in African countries is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, fuelling the hunt for cross-border investments, residency, and citizenship.

“New World Wealth has predicted a healthy wealth growth of 38 percent for Africa in the next decade, and several Eastern African countries stand out,” the report says.