BEIJING, June 10 -- An additional 600,000 millionaires were created around the world in 2004, with North America and Asia leading the wealth stakes, according to the 2005 World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini.

    The 2005 World Wealth Report showed that the world's high net worth wealth grew strongly in 2004 for a second straight year, increasing 8.2 percent to 30.8 trillion dollars.

US one-hundred-dollar bills. North America and Asia lead the wealth stakes in the 2005 World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini. (AFP/file)

    The number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) - individuals with a net worth of at least 1 million dollars, grew by 7.3 percent to 8.3 million, a net increase of 600,000 worldwide.

    North America led with a nearly 10 percent growth rate to 2.7 million HNWIs, surpassing the 2.6 million in Europe. Asia-Pacific's growth rate of over 8 percent, or 2.3 million HNWIs, was twice that of Europe.

    "Looking regionally, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and India saw the highest rates of HNWI population growth, while wealthy people in South Africa and the Middle East benefited from the rise in commodity and oil prices," the report said. 

    Only Britain and Spain bucked the trend of sluggish growth in Europe. Britain saw its number of millionaires grow by 8.9 percent and Spain 8.7 percent.

    The Report also made a forecast for trends in the next five years. Global high net worth wealth was projected to reach 42.2 trillion dollars by 2009, growing at a compound annual rate of 6.5 percent over the five years.

    But the report warned that it would become more difficult to join the millionaires club in coming years as economy becomes more difficult.

(Agencies)