Lagos leads millionaire decline among Africa’s wealthiest cities

Nigeria has only one city in Africa’s top 20 wealthiest cities, compared to South Africa’s seven. Still, Nigeria’s lone representative, Lagos, recorded the continent’s biggest decline in the number of millionaires in the last decade, a new report says.

The 2024 Africa Wealth Report, published by wealth advisory firm Henley & Partners, said the total investable wealth currently held in Africa amounts to $2.5 trillion and its millionaire population is set to rise by 65 percent over the next 10 years.

The report said there are currently 135,200 high net worth individuals (HNWI) with investable wealth of $1 million or more living in Africa, along with 342 centi-millionaires and 21-dollar billionaires.

Africa’s “Big 5” wealth markets — South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Morocco — together account for 56 percent of the continent’s millionaires and over 90 percent of its billionaires.

Africa’s wealthiest countries and cities 

Despite a tough past decade, South Africa is still home to over twice as many HNWIs as any other African country, with 37,400 millionaires, 102 centi-millionaires, and 5 billionaires, followed by Egypt with 15,600 millionaires, 52 centi-millionaires, and 7 billionaires.

Nigeria sits in 3rd place with 8,200 HNWIs, followed by Kenya (7,200 millionaires), Morocco (6,800), Mauritius (5,100), Algeria (2,800), Ghana (2,700), Ethiopia (2,700) and Namibia (2,300) all making it into the Top 10 wealthiest countries in Africa.

Over the next decade (to 2033), the likes of Mauritius, Namibia, Morocco, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are all expected to experience 80%+ millionaire growth. Mauritius is projected to enjoy a remarkable 95% growth rate, positioning it as one of the world’s fastest-growing wealth markets.

At the city level, South Africa has seven cities amongst the top 20 wealthiest African cities while Morocco has three. Nigeria and the others have only one each.

Johannesburg holds its place as the wealthiest in Africa, with 12,300 millionaires, 25 centi-millionaires, and 2 billionaires. Cape Town follows closely with 7,400 millionaires, 28 centi-millionaires, and 1 billionaire. Cairo (7,200 millionaires), Nairobi (4,400), and Lagos (4,200) also stand out as key African urban wealth hubs.

Cape Town, the Whale Coast, Kigali, Windhoek, Swakopmund, Nairobi, Tangier and Marrakech are all expected to enjoy 85%+ millionaire growth over the next ten years.

Between 2013 and 2023, Lagos’ millionaire growth declined by 48 percent while Jo0hannesburg fell by 44 percent. Angola’s Launda declined 33 percent.

Declining wealth

Dominic Volek, head of private clients at Henley & Partners, said that currency depreciation and underperforming stock markets have chipped away at Africa’s wealth compared to global benchmarks.

“The South African Rand fell 43% against the US dollar from 2013-2023, and even though the JSE All Share Index rose in local currency terms, it was down 5% in USD terms. Currencies in most other African countries also performed poorly over the past decade, with dramatic depreciations of over 75% recorded in Nigeria, Egypt, Angola and Zambia,” he said.

The head of research at New World Wealth, Andrew Amoils, adds that African nations are also losing large numbers of HNWIs to migration which is eroding the continent’s wealth: “Approximately 18,700 high-net-worth individuals have left Africa over the past decade. There are currently 54 African born billionaires in the world, including one of the world’s richest, Elon Musk, but only 21 of them still live on the continent.”