Israel was ranked 18th in the UBS Global Wealth Report with an average wealth of $260,000 per adult in 2023, up 14% from 2022, well above the average growth worldwide of 4.2%.
According to the Swiss bank, the growth of median wealth in Israel was much weaker, indicating that wealth is growing at a much slower pace in lower socioeconomic clusters and that economic inequality is growing.
However, there has been an opposite trend in Israel over the longer term. Since the financial crisis in 2008, inequality of wealth in Israel has narrowed by 12%, indicating that growth over the last 15 years has been inclusive and benefitted the weaker strata as well as the strong.
Israel is seeing a good period for wealth
In general, it has been a very good period for wealth in Israel: the average wealth in shekels increased by 142%, and the median by no less than 220%, thus more than tripling over that period.
Israel currently has 180,000 millionaires in US dollar terms — in other words their assets less debt are worth more than $1 million. In addition, more than 2.5 million Israelis possess between $100,000 and $1 million in wealth.
According to the UBS report, the country with the most extensive wealth in the world is Switzerland, which has an average of $709,000 per adult. Luxembourg is second, followed by Hong Kong and the US. Israel in 18th place with an average of $260,000 per adult (up from 19th place in 2022) was ranked immediately below Germany and immediately above Austria. Israel has the most wealth in the Middle East, ahead of Qatar in 20th place with an average of $199,000 per person.