A high-net-worth individual (HNWI) is a person holding at least $1 million in investable assets — cash and financial investments, excluding the primary residence — and an ultra-high-net-worth individual (UHNWI) is one holding at least $30 million, under the segmentation used across the wealth-management industry.
In plain terms
HNWI is not a legal category. It is the wealth-management industry’s way of sorting prospective clients into service tiers, and the thresholds mark where the sales treatment changes: at $1 million the private-banking brochures arrive, and around $30 million the conversation turns to family offices. The count is of money that can actually be managed for a fee — which is why the house is excluded.
How it works
The definition was standardized by the Capgemini World Wealth Report, published annually since 1997, and the industry has largely adopted its bands: HNWI at $1 million–$5 million of investable assets (Capgemini’s “millionaires next door”), mid-tier millionaires at $5 million–$30 million, and UHNWI above $30 million. Investable assets means financial holdings — cash, securities, funds — and excludes the primary residence, collectibles, and consumer durables.
Because the label has no regulatory force, the lines that actually open doors in the United States are different ones: the SEC’s accredited investor test ($1 million of net worth excluding the primary residence, or $200,000 of income) and the qualified purchaser test ($5 million of investments). A person can be an HNWI in a bank’s CRM and still fail both.
The numbers
- HNWI threshold: $1 million in investable assets; UHNWI: $30 million (Capgemini definition, unchanged since the 1990s — neither is inflation-adjusted).
- Global HNWI population, 2025: 25.3 million people holding a record $98.3 trillion, per the World Wealth Report 2026 — up nearly 2 million in a single year on equity-market gains.
- United States, 2025: added 736,000 new HNWIs, the most of any country.
- Global UHNWI population, 2025: roughly 250,000 people — about 1% of all HNWIs — and the fastest-growing wealth band for the second straight year.
- The competing count: the UBS Global Wealth Report 2026 counts 57.5 million dollar-millionaires worldwide (23.6 million in the US) — more than twice Capgemini’s figure — because UBS measures total net worth, including home equity.
What people get wrong
That “millionaire” is one number. The two most-cited annual reports disagree by more than 30 million people — 25.3 million versus 57.5 million in the same year — and both are right, because they are counting different things. Capgemini counts investable assets; UBS counts total net worth. A household with a paid-off $900,000 house, retirement accounts, and modest savings is a millionaire in the UBS count and invisible in the Capgemini one. Most American millionaires are the first kind — which is precisely why the industry that coined HNWI excludes the house: you cannot charge a management fee on someone’s kitchen.
Related
Read more: Wealth Levels: Life at $1M, $10M, $100M, and $1B · Family Office: How the Very Rich Organize Their Lives and Money · Private Banking: Services, Perks, and What It Really Means
See also: Liquid net worth · Accredited investor · Qualified purchaser · Single-family office