Some 600,000 Join Millionaire Ranks in 2004

A strong global economy gave 600,000 people an entree last year into a highly envied group: the world's millionaires.


The annual World Wealth Report, released Thursday by Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and the Capgemini Group consulting firm, found that there were 8.3 million people worldwide with $1 million or more in financial assets at the end of 2004, up from 7.7 million a year earlier.

Their total wealth rose 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion in 2004, giving them control of nearly a quarter of the world's financial assets, according to Petrina Dolby, vice president of Capgemini's wealth management practice.

The 8.2 percent increase was the strongest since an identical 8.2 percent rise in 1999, she said.