On April 18, Henley&Partners, an investment immigration company, and New Worldwealth, a global wealth intelligence company, jointly released the report on the richest cities in the world in 2023. We can see from the report that the top ten cities are "new york, Tokyo, California Bay Area, London, Singapore, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Sydney" in turn. It also mentioned that "the number of high-net-worth individuals in Beijing and Shanghai increased by 70% and 72% respectively, reaching128,200 and127,200".
In addition, according to this report, six cities in China were shortlisted for the list of "the richest cities in the world in 2023". They are the seventh in Hong Kong, the eighth in Beijing, the ninth in Shanghai, the twenty-fourth in Shenzhen, the thirty-fifth in Hangzhou and the forty-second in Guangzhou.
Among the 50 cities with the largest number of rich people in the world, six cities in China ranked second, and the United States ranked first with 10. Although we didn't win the first prize, our brave progress is obvious to all. So what is driving more and more affluent cities in China?
In my opinion, it is mainly the following four factors:
First of all, it must be the sustained and rapid economic development of China. The domestic economy maintained rapid growth. In the first quarter of 2023, the GDP increased by 4.5% year-on-year. Although it is lower than the previous growth rate of 5 points, it is still very eye-catching compared with the growth rate of 2 points and 3 points in most countries, which also gives our country a great advantage in global trade and attracting foreign investment. This advantage brings a large amount of capital inflow, batch order acquisition and technological innovation, which indirectly promotes the employment, industrial development and infrastructure improvement of urban residents.
Secondly, the domestic environment is relatively stable. In recent years, the international community has been in turmoil. The conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been going on for 1 years, so there are not a few countries deeply involved. Moreover, the conflict in the Middle East seems to never stop, and Israel has become the center of the vortex. China's stable social environment not only attracts foreign investment, but also makes China people dare to invest, innovate and be willing to spend.
And China's demographic dividend. Although the demographic dividend in China is not so prominent at present, it is undeniable that it still exists, and we have eaten too much demographic dividend before that. The large population base and abundant and cheap labor force also bring convenience to a good business environment.
Finally, the domestic population is highly mobile and consumption is upgraded. Nowadays, many rural people go to cities to work and start businesses, and some people have achieved success, which will naturally enhance the high-net-worth people in the city. At the same time, with the change of people's concept, the pursuit of life has been diversified, which has also stimulated local consumer demand and made the city more and more affluent.
It is certainly a good thing that there are more and more wealthy cities, but at the same time, we should also see that the gap between the rich and the poor among cities (people) still exists, and we need the joint efforts of all levels of society to continue to promote and improve the practice of "getting rich first, then getting rich", so that the happiness index of China people will continue to rise.