A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
Nearly 1 million people became millionaires in 2025, largely thanks to a thriving stock market, according to a new report by UBS.
The Swiss bank estimated that the United States is responsible for nearly half of these newly minted millionaires, adding an average of more than 1,200 new millionaires a day last year for an annual gain of about 441,000.
Stock market gains boosted global personal wealth by 10.8%, the biggest jump since 2017 and more than double the rate of 2024 and 2023, UBS found. However, this robust growth was belied by declines in median wealth in most of the 56 markets monitored by UBS, pointing to a growing wealth gap.
In the U.S., for example, median wealth per adult has declined by nearly 20% from 2020 to 2025, while average wealth has increased by about 10% over the same period of time, net of inflation, according to the bank's data analysis.
