Hong Kong is often voted as having the freest economy and the most capitalist place on earth. Under the British, Positive non-interventionism was the economic policy of Hong Kong; this policy can be traced back to the time when Hong Kong was under British rule. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_non-interventionism It was first officially implemented in 1971 by John Cowperthwaite, who observed that the economy was doing well in the absence of government intervention. Sir John James Cowperthwaite KBE CMG, (April 25, 1915 â January 21, 2006) was a British civil servant and the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1961 to 1971. His introduction of free market economic policies are widely credited with turning postwar Hong Kong into a thriving global financial centre. According to Cowperthwaite: "In the long run, the aggregate of decisions of individual businessmen, exercising individual judgment in a free economy, even if often mistaken, is less likely to do harm than the centralised decisions of a government; and certainly the harm is likely to be counteracted faster." Today, 1 in every 14 Hong Konger is a millionaire. So obviously, a policy of small government and the encouragement of private enterprise has allowed HKG to turn itself from a sleepy fishing village to a world financial centre. Ironically, the UK itself is part of the big government socialist hell that has enveloped so many European countries. Why did the British even though they have overseen the success of that very policy in HKG proceeded to implement an absolutely contradictory and disastrous one in their homeland ? Surely they should have known better than most.
I dont know about the Citibank study. I read this, apparently its from a Boston Consulting group report. It should be in USD, it wouldnt make sense either-wise. http://www.bcg.com/documents/file49905.pdf http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/06/11/where-the-worlds-millionaires-live-the-top-10-countries/ That's according to a new report, The Boston Consulting Group's Global Wealth 2010 Report, released Thursday by Boston Consulting Group. The report breaks down wealth by region and by country, creating a geographic portrait of where the world's wealth is accumulating and at what rate. In fact, you're more likely to find those conditions in Singapore, which had the highest percentage of millionaire households in the world. Yes, that puts Singapore at the top of Boston Consulting Group list of the top 10 countries with the greatest proportion of millionaire households. You may be surprised by the full run-down: 1) Singapore Population: 4.7 million Percentage of Millionaire Households: 11.4% Who would think the tiny Republic of Singapore would be crammed with so many millionaires? The country, all of just 247 square miles, has emerged from the recession and has rebounded in a big way. Its GDP, exports and manufacturing are all rising, and so, too, are home prices. That has led Singapore to boast the highest concentration of millionaires anywhere on the planet. Among its very rich: Ng Teng Fong, a real estate tycoon, and Wee Cho Yaw, who runs United Overseas Bank, one of Singapore's big lenders. 2) Hong Kong Population: 7.1 million Percentage of Millionaire Households: 8.8% Hong Kong, the home of Li Ka-shing, who runs conglomerates Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa, had 205,000 millionaire households in 2009 and takes the number two spot for percentage of millionaire households. Hong Kong's close relationship with mainland China brings benefits and risks, but it's been good for many of the wealthiest, who made their money by investing in a real estate market that has no shortage of swanky hotels and malls.
I would expect Monaco has much higher proportion of millionaires. However, I guess for the purposes of this report with 35,000 population Monaco didn't qualify as a "country", only as a tax heaven.