Australia's wealth inequality and median wealth trends per UBS 2026 Global Wealth Report
Consensus Summary
The UBS 2026 Global Wealth Report reveals Australia’s median wealth ranks third globally at $US210,783 ($306,074), though it has fallen nearly 7% since 2020 despite average wealth rising 19% over the same period. The report highlights a growing wealth divide, with Australia’s millionaire count surging by 25,000 in 2025 to 1.6 million, driven by a booming property market. While wealth inequality has narrowed slightly (Gini coefficient of 0.53), economists like Saul Eslake warn that housing wealth and inheritance trends could worsen disparities. Globally, North America and Greater China dominate millionaire growth, with the US alone adding 440,000 new millionaires in 2025. Both sources agree Australia’s wealth distribution is more equal than in countries like the UAE or South Africa but less so than Slovakia or Belgium.
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Key details reported by multiple sources:
- Australia's median wealth is $US210,783 ($306,074), ranking third globally behind Luxembourg and Belgium
- Australia's average wealth per adult is $US616,306 ($894,182), ranking fifth globally
- Australia's Gini coefficient for wealth inequality is 0.53, indicating improved wealth distribution
- Australia's number of millionaires (net assets > $US1 million) increased by roughly 25,000 in 2025, totaling 1.6 million people
- Global total personal wealth climbed 10.8% in 2025, up from 4.6% in 2024, with North America and Greater China accounting for 56% of the world's millionaires
- Australia's household wealth grew 1.2% to $19.2 trillion by the end of the March quarter of 2026, driven by land and dwelling values
- The average house price in Australia was just over $1.1 million during the March quarter of 2026
- Australia's median wealth fell nearly 7% since 2020, despite average wealth rising 19% over the same period
- The UBS 2026 Global Wealth Report highlights a growing divide between the wealthiest and broader populations, with median wealth declining in 18 of 29 countries analyzed
Points of Difference
Details reported by only one source:
- Australian households collectively own $12.3 trillion in residential land and dwellings, exceeding the combined GDP of Japan, India, and the UK
- The US alone accounted for almost half of newly created millionaires in 2025, adding more than 440,000 individuals
- Mainland China, Japan, Germany, the UK, and France each reported more than two million millionaires in total
- The United Arab Emirates and Russia recorded the highest wealth inequality at 0.82, followed by South Africa and Brazil at 0.81
- Slovakia ranked as the most equal country with a Gini coefficient of 0.38, while Belgium and Qatar were slightly more equal than Australia
- The UBS report described 2025 as an 'extraordinary year' with nearly a million new millionaires created worldwide, a record increase in a single year
- Australia’s progressive income tax and transfer system helps flatten income inequality, but the tax system does little to address wealth inequality
- Economist Saul Eslake argues for an inheritance tax, citing $5.5 trillion of wealth expected to be passed from boomers to their kids over the next 25-30 years
- Eslake notes that median wealth in the 2020s has jumped by 50% in Japan, 20% in India, and over 10% in South Korea, contrasting with declines in Germany, the US, and the UK
Contradictions
Conflicting information between sources:
- The ABC states Australia's median wealth is $US210,783 ($306,074), while the Guardian describes it as 'nearly $US211,000 ($306,000)'—a minor rounding difference
- The ABC reports Australia's average wealth per adult as $US616,306 ($894,182), while the Guardian does not provide this exact figure but references a 19% rise in average wealth since 2020
Source Articles
Australia ranks third-highest for median wealth globally, UBS data shows
Australia holds the third-highest median wealth globally at $306,074, pipped at the post by Luxembourg and Belgium.
Australia’s median wealth falls almost 7% since 2020 despite the rich getting richer, report says
Swiss bank UBS finds ‘growing divide between the wealthiest and the broader population’ as country adds more than 25,000 more millionaires Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Middle Australia’s wealth is going backwards while the richest claim an ever-greater share of the pile, according to new research that shows more than 25,000 people across the country became millionaires last year. The latest global wealth report from the Swiss bank UBS said 2025 marked “an extraord