Countries with the most millionaires

When you're rich, and much of your capital is tied up in real estate, stock options and other investments, your personal value tends to swell and swoon. Consider: last year alone, private fortunes in North America fell by 0.9 per cent, representing a slide of about $38 trillion in total.
 
What countries have the most millionaires, and which ones saw its list of elite gain or lose ground year-over-year? The Boston Consulting Group has released its annual report tracking wealth around the world. Please find out what nations have the most millionaire households.
 
* All figures in USD.

1. United States

Millionaire households: 5,134,000
Last year's rank: 1
 
The U.S. lost 129,000 millionaires between 2010 and 2011, the largest loss on this list. But in America there is still plenty to go around. Not only does the U.S. have the most households with a net worth exceeding $1 million, but it also has by far the most households with a net worth exceeding $100 million. With 2,928 homes with fortunes over $100 million, America soars over the runner-up, the U.K., which has 1,125 such households.

2. Japan

Millionaire households: 1,587,000
Last year's rank: 2
 
Nearly 1.6 million Japanese homes have a net worth exceeding $1 million, the second-highest number in the world. But despite such wealth, Japan has few ultra high net worth households — those with fortunes exceeding $100 million. The Boston Consulting Group only provides data on the 15 nations with the most $100 million households, and Japan does not even crack the list.

3. China

Millionaire households: 1,432,000
Last year's rank: 3
 
China experienced the largest jump in millionaire households on this list, adding 193,000 homes with a net worth exceeding $1 million between 2010 and 2011.

4. United Kingdom

Millionaire households: 411,000
Last year's rank: 4
 
In the U.K., the number of high net worth households remained steady between 2010 and 2011 at 411,000. Similarly, the number of 'ultra' high net worth households (homes with a net worth exceeding $100 million) in the U.K. stayed at 1,125 in both 2010 and 2011.

5. Germany

Millionaire households: 345,000
Last year's rank: 5
 
Germany added 25,000 millionaire households between 2010 and 2011, the most of all the European countries to appear on this list. The European nation, where supermarket magnate Karl Albrecht and BMW heir Stefan Quandt call home, also has 807 households with a net worth exceeding $100 million, the most on the continent.

6. Switzerland

Millionaire households: 322,000
Last year's rank: 6
 
Switzerland is a nation of less than eight million people, though many of them are flat-out rich. With 322,000 millionaire households, the Swiss can boast the third-highest such mark in all of Europe. But 9.5 per cent of all Swiss households also have a net worth higher than a million dollars, the largest percentage on the continent.

7. Italy

Millionaire households: 270,000
Last year's rank: 8
 
Italians are rich, but perhaps not super-rich. Italy's 270,000 millionaire households are good for seventh-best in the world, but the nation sinks lower in the rankings when the stakes are raised. Italy has 333 households with a net worth exceeding $100 million, just the tenth-highest mark on earth, according to the Boston Consulting Group.

8. Taiwan

Millionaire households: 246,000
Last year's rank: 7
 
More than three per cent of all Taiwanese households have a net worth exceeding one million dollars, the ninth-highest percentage in the world. But even more Taiwanese households may be classified as super-rich. There are 375 homes in Taiwan that have a net worth of more than $100 million, the eighth-highest percentage in the world.

9. Hong Kong

Millionaire households: 212,000
Last year's rank: 10
 
While technically a special administrative region of China, the Bonston Consulting Group classifies Hong Kong, with a population of over seven million, as a country in its study. Overall, in the Asia-Pacific part of the world, private wealth increased by a whopping 10.7 per cent year-over-year, good for a total boom of $23.7 trillion. During that same period, the number of millionaire households in Hong Kong jumped by 3,000.

10. France

Millionaire households: 200,000
Last year's rank: 9
 
We start here with France, whose 200,000 millionaire households. From 2010 to 2011, the number of French households with a net worth exceeding $1 million rose by 10,000. France was also one of just five nations on this list to have its total millionaire households increase year-over-year.