Thanks to its ambitious skyscrapers, luxury shopping experiences and five-star, actually make that seven-star, lifestyle offerings, Dubai has long had the reputation as a playground for the rich and famous, and now new research has cemented that illustrious status.
Overtaking cities such as Shanghai, Miami and Paris, according to Knight Frank’s latest Wealth Report, Dubai is the fifth most important city in the world for the ultra-wealthy. Not surprisingly then, this news comes at the same time as a report by New World Wealth revealed that in 2015 alone 2,000 millionaires moved to Dubai, which means there is now a total of 42,000 millionaires living in the emirate.
Read: How Much It Really Costs To Live In Dubai
While the figure sounds impressively high, Dubai only came in fourth (though technically joint third) in the top five cities with the highest millionaire inflow in 2015. Sydney was the highest with 4,000 (total number of millionaires: 95,400), Melbourne was second with 3,000, (total number of millionaires: 66,800). Like Dubai, Tel Aviv and San Francisco saw 2,000 millionaires move to their cities in 2015. Tel Aviv’s millionaire quota is now at 29,000, while San Francisco is a whopping 129,000.
In case you were wondering what are the top three cities in terms of numbers of millionaires it’s Tokyo (461,000), New york (389,000) and London (281,000).
“Dubai has emerged as a global hub for financial services, logistics, hospitality and trade,” said Knight Frank analyst Joseph Morris. “Its airport has overtaken London Heathrow as the busiest by international passenger numbers and the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) is the region’s leading financial hub.
Read: 10 Tips On how To Be A Millionaire In Dubai
“These factors have fuelled the development of new master communities and a CBD and attracted significant investment from neighbouring GCC countries and the wider region, including India and China.”
As a country, the UAE also ranked at fifth place for the highest inflow of millionaires in 2015. In total the region is home to 72,100 millionaires, which is an increase of four per cent from last year.
Read: 10 Of The Richest People Living In The GCC
With such an impressive quota of millionaires in Dubai it’s hardly surprising that it has been named as one of the happiest places to live in the world.
Images: Getty
