If the growth prospects for this year hold, then in 2022 Austria will return to a GDP like before the corona crisis of 2019. This is the result of the Global Wealth Report published on Tuesday by the major Swiss bank Credit Suisse. In Switzerland, the GDP of 2019 will be exceeded by 3 to 4 percent this year, despite the Ukraine war. Wealth rose sharply worldwide last year, but this is likely to reverse again this year. There was also an increase in Austria.
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According to Credit Suisse, global wealth rose to $463.6 trillion in 2021 (currently €464 trillion). That was an increase of 9.8 percent. Wealth per adult rose an average of 8.4 percent to $87,489 (about the same amount in euros now). Excluding exchange rate fluctuations, total global wealth even grew by 12.7 percent in 2021. This was the fastest annual rate ever recorded. A weakening economy, the rise in interest rates and further uncertainties are likely to reverse the trend again this year.
Germans and Swiss are richer
In an international comparison, people in Austria are on average wealthy, but not quite as much as those in Germany and certainly not as much as those in Switzerland. At the end of 2021, wealth per adult was USD 250,125 in Austria and USD 256,985 in Germany. In Switzerland, it was almost three times as much at $696,604.
Net worth in Austria fell by 4.2 percent in constant currency in 2020, while it rose by 3.1 percent in Switzerland and Germany, according to Credit Suisse. The increase in 2021 in Austria, at 8.7 percent, was still lower than in Germany with 9.1 or Switzerland with 10.3 percent.
The Austrians not only have the lowest average wealth in the German-speaking area. Wealth accumulation in Austria was also less rapid. Measured at the current dollar exchange rate, the wealth of Austrians grew by 3.8 percent from 2000 to 2021, that of Germans by 4.8 percent and that of Swiss by 5.4 percent.
On average, financial assets accounted for 39.7 percent of gross assets in Austria and Germany in 2000. The value rose to 42 percent in 2010 and further to 43.9 percent in the previous year. In Switzerland, this value fell from 62.4 percent in 2000 to 56 percent last year.
271,000 super rich in Austria
The study shows 271,000 dollar millionaires in Austria. For Germany it is 2.68 million and for Switzerland 1.15 million. In Austria there are significantly fewer super-rich than in Switzerland, but wealth inequality is relatively the lowest when all three countries are considered. According to Credit Suisse, inequality (Gini coefficient) has also fallen in Switzerland since 2000, but in Germany it has increased again after a temporary decline.
Gallery: The Forbes list of the richest Austrians
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One percent owns a quarter of all wealth
The proportion of total assets held by the richest one percent has fallen in Austria since 2000 from 27 to 25.8 percent. In Switzerland there was a drop from 32.2 to 26.5 percent. In Germany, the value fell temporarily from 29.1 percent to 27.2 in 2008, but rose again to 31.7 percent in the previous year. According to Credit Suisse, however, the share of the lowest income groups also increased there.
Corona: Consumption plummeted by 6.1 percent
For the German-speaking area, the evaluation also shows that private consumption in Germany, Switzerland and Austria fell by an average of 6.1 percent in 2020, which was particularly shaped by Corona. As reported during the course of the pandemic, the savings rate increased significantly – from 16.2 percent in 2019 to 21.5 percent in 2020.
Share prices rose in all three countries in both 2020 and 2021. The plus was most noticeable in Austria at 31.9 percent (Germany: +20.5 percent; Switzerland +14.6 percent). But already in the first half of this year things went downhill again. This was again most clearly the case in Austria with a minus of 25.4 percent (Germany: -18.1 percent; Switzerland: -15.8 percent).
Source: Nachrichten
