Why personal wealth in Australia is rising faster than other nations
We are now the second-wealthiest per capita in the world
2 min
The average wealth of Australian adults grew by nearly 10 percent last year, more than double the pace of 56 other countries, and we are now the second-wealthiest per capita in the world, according to the 2024 UBS Global Wealth Report. The median wealth of Australians is now USD$261,805 per person (AUD$387,612). The wealthiest people live in Luxembourg where the average resident is worth USD$372,258 (AUD$551,142).
UBS says the bulk of our rising wealth over the past year has come from gains in property values and superannuation. More than half of our wealth is in ‘non-financial’ or relatively illiquid assets such as bricks and mortar. This is unusual relative to our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region, where 60 percent of personal wealth is held in shares, bonds, mutual funds and savings accounts.
Australia also has the world’s third-largest population of millionaires. According to UBS, 1,936,114 Australians are millionaires in US dollar terms, which equates to 10 percent of the population. By 2028, UBS forecasts that Australia will have almost 400,000 more millionaires at 2,334,015 people. Of the 56 countries covered in the report, the United States has the most millionaires at 21,951,319 people. This cohort is forecast to expand by almost 3.5 million people to 25,425,792 by 2028.
Property has delivered exceptional capital gains to Australian homeowners since the onset of the pandemic. Sydney home values are 28 percent higher today than they were in early 2020, according to CoreLogic data. Home values in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth are more than 60 percent higher. In Hobart, property values are 28 percent higher, and in Canberra they are 32 percent higher. Melbourne home values are 11 percent higher.
UBS explains that rising wealth tends to go hand-in-hand with economic development. Since the Global Financial Crisis, wealth has risen fastest in the Asia-Pacific region at nearly 177 percent over 15 years. This has occurred alongside 192 percent growth in debt, however, UBS notes that “it is not uncommon for emerging economies to experience fast growth in credit as the financial system develops and matures”.
While global wealth is steadily rising, it is doing so at a slower pace. There are many reasons for this, including smaller rates of growth as countries become wealthier and their economies mature. Also, countries with aging populations tend to see falling rates of economic activity, which affects both personal and national wealth. Between 2000 and 2010, Australia’s annual compound growth rate in wealth was 15 percent. Between 2010 and 2023, it shrank to four percent. China’s annual growth rate has fallen from 19 percent between 2000 and 2010 to eight percent between 2010 and 2013.
The report also looked at wealth inequality and assigned a score of between zero and 100 to each of the 56 nations. A low score indicated more equality and a high score indicated greater inequality. Australia has an inequality score of 51 now. This is forecast to grow to 54 by 2028. Countries with a similar score include Japan (50), Italy (50), Belgium (51) and Finland (53). Saudi Arabia had the highest wealth inequality score at 89, followed by the United Arab Emirates (88), United States (76) and Sweden (74).
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The lunar flyby would be the deepest humans have traveled in space in decades.
4 min
It’s go time for the highest-stakes mission at NASA in more than 50 years.
On April 1, the agency is set to launch four astronauts around the moon, the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972.
The launch window for Artemis II , as the mission is called, opens at 6:24 p.m. ET.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip. Crew members have trained for years for this moment.
Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut serving as mission commander, said he doesn’t fear taking the voyage. A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.
“I could have a very comfortable life for them,” Wiseman said in an interview last September.
“But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.”
Wiseman’s crewmates on Artemis II are NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
What are the goals for Artemis II?
The biggest one: Safely fly the crew on vehicles that have never carried astronauts before.
The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.
Orion is designed to carry the crew around the moon and back. Myriad systems on the ship—life support, communications, navigation—will be tested with the astronauts on board.
SLS and Orion don’t have much flight experience. The vehicles last flew in 2022, when the agency completed its uncrewed Artemis I mission .
How is the mission expected to unfold?
Artemis II will begin when SLS takes off from a launchpad in Florida with Orion stacked on top of it.
The so-called upper stage of SLS will later separate from the main part of the rocket with Orion attached, and use its engine to set up the latter vehicle for a push to the moon.
After Orion separates from the upper stage, it will conduct what is called a translunar injection—the engine firing that commits Orion to soaring out to the moon. It will fly to the moon over the course of a few days and travel around its far side.
Orion will face a tough return home after speeding through space. As it hits Earth’s atmosphere, Orion will be flying at 25,000 miles an hour and face temperatures of 5,000 degrees as it slows down. The capsule is designed to land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean, not far from San Diego.
Is it possible Artemis II will be delayed?
Yes.
For safety reasons, the agency won’t launch if certain tough weather conditions roll through the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area. Delays caused by technical problems are possible, too. NASA has other dates identified for the mission if it doesn’t begin April 1.
Who are the astronauts flying on Artemis II?
The crew will be led by Wiseman, a retired Navy pilot who completed military deployments before joining NASA’s astronaut corps. He traveled to the International Space Station in 2014.
Two other astronauts will represent NASA during the mission: Glover, an experienced Navy pilot, and Koch, who began her career as an electrical engineer for the agency and once spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. Both have traveled to the space station before.
Hansen is a military pilot who joined Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009. He will be making his first trip to space.
Koch’s participation in Artemis II will mark the first time a woman has flown beyond orbits near Earth. Glover and Hansen will be the first African-American and non-American astronauts, respectively, to do the same.
What will the astronauts do during the flight?
The astronauts will evaluate how Orion flies, practice emergency procedures and capture images of the far side of the moon for scientific and exploration purposes (they may become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the lunar surface). Health-tracking projects of the astronauts are designed to inform future missions.
Those efforts will play out in Orion’s crew module, which has about two minivans worth of living area.
On board, the astronauts will spend about 30 minutes a day exercising, using a device that allows them to do dead lifts, rowing and more. Sleep will come in eight-hour stretches in hammocks.
There is a custom-made warmer for meals, with beef brisket and veggie quiche on the menu.
Each astronaut is permitted two flavored beverages a day, including coffee. The crew will hold one hourlong shared meal each day.
The Universal Waste Management System—that’s the toilet—uses air flow to pull fluid and solid waste away into containers.
What happens after Artemis II?
Assuming it goes well, NASA will march on to Artemis III, scheduled for next year. During that operation, NASA plans to launch Orion with crew members on board and have the ship practice docking with lunar-lander vehicles that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been developing. The rendezvous operations will occur relatively close to Earth.
NASA hopes that its contractors and the agency itself are ready to attempt one or more lunar landing missions in 2028. Many current and former spaceflight officials are skeptical that timeline is feasible.
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