Dubai just posted the fastest climb of any city on the planet’s wealth rankings, and the numbers are hard to ignore. Dubai is now home to 81,200 millionaires, 237 centimillionaires holding over $100 million each, and 20 billionaires, according to the Henley & Partners World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2025, as reported by Al Bayan.
Dubai’s Millionaire Population Soars 102% In A Decade
Between 2014 and 2024, Dubai’s millionaire population more than doubled, up 102 per cent, enough to push the city from 21st to 18th place among the world’s 50 wealthiest cities. That’s not a gradual climb. Ten years ago, Dubai wasn’t even close to this conversation. Now it’s a fixture in it, and the report suggests that’s only the start, projecting Dubai and Abu Dhabi will more than double their centi-millionaire populations again over the next decade.
Why The Money Keeps Moving Here
Zero personal income tax and capital gains tax. Investment-friendly regulation, a legal system wealthy individuals trust, and residency-by-investment programmes that make relocating simple rather than bureaucratic. Henley & Partners points to all of it as the reason global capital keeps flowing toward the UAE specifically, not the Gulf broadly. Wealth, the report argues, has become genuinely mobile in a way it wasn’t a decade ago, and high-net-worth individuals are gravitating toward cities that combine investment freedom with legal certainty and, frankly, a lifestyle worth relocating for.
Also Read: Dubai Ranked Among Best Cities For Business Travel And 4th Globally For Millionaires: Report
Where Dubai Sits Globally
New York still holds the top spot worldwide, with 384,500 millionaires calling it home. The San Francisco Bay Area comes in second at 342,400 and has actually overtaken New York on billionaire count specifically. Tokyo sits third, Singapore fourth, and Los Angeles has climbed into fifth after London slipped to sixth. London and Moscow, notably, are the only two cities in the entire global top 50 to see their millionaire populations shrink over the past decade. Looking ahead to 2035, Henley & Partners forecasts growth beyond 100 per cent in centi-millionaire populations across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and a handful of emerging hubs in Asia and Europe.
Cover Image Courtesy: VisitDubai/Website
FAQs
Which city has the most millionaires in the world?
New York, with 384,500, followed by San Francisco Bay Area and Tokyo
Why are millionaires moving to Dubai?
Zero personal income and capital gains tax, investor-friendly regulation, and residency-by-investment programmes.