High-net-worth individuals can live anywhere in the world they want. Many gravitate to cities that afford them the lifestyle they desire.
A survey by Spear's magazine and WealthInsight, a consultancy, ranking the 100 cities across the world with the most multimillionaire residents found that some 57,700 multimillionaires lived in those cities. Spear's defines "multimillionaires" as individuals with net assets of $30 million or more, excluding their primary residences.
Asian cities accounted for the biggest share of millionaire residents. In 2015, 21,372 multimillionaires lived in 40 Asian cities, and 18 cities saw the number of these residents increase.
"The real success story of this year's list has been the rise in multimillionaires residing in Chinese and Indian cities," WealthInsight analyst Oliver Williams said in a statement about the survey released in May.
Europe followed, with 19,508 multimillionaires in 26 cities. In North America, 10,847 wealthy people lived in 14 U.S., Canadian and Mexican cities.
More than 2,300 multimillionaires lived in both South American and Middle Eastern cities, 1,780 in Australian and New Zealand cities, and 810 in African ones.
(Which cities have the most millionaires per capita? Check out Top 20 Cities With Most Millionaires.)
According to Williams, political and economic turmoil caused the biggest changes in this year's ranking. Several countries suffering recessions experienced major declines in cities where significant numbers of multimillionaires lived.
The hardest hit was Ukraine, where Kiev's multimillionaire population fell by 10.2%. In neighboring Russia, St. Petersburg's similar population declined by 7.9% and Moscow's by 6.8%.
And in Brazil, which is beset by both a multiyear recession and political upheaval, São Paulo suffered a 5.7% decline in multimillionaires and Rio de Janeiro a 3.7% drop.
Following are the top 15 cities with the largest multimillionaire populations, according to Spears and WealthInsight:
15: Geneva
Region: Europe
2015: 1,198
2014: 1,198
2014–2015 change: 0%
2013: 1,156
14: Toronto
Region: North America
2015: 1,204
2014: 1,216
2014–2015 change: -1%
2013: 1,184
13: São Paulo
Region: South America
2015: 1,268
2014: 1,344
2014–2015 change: -5.7%
2013: 1,310
12: Taipei, Taiwan
Region: Asia
2015: 1,330
2014: 1,317
2014–2015 change: 1%
2013: 1,255
11: Zurich
Region: Europe
2015: 1,350
2014: 1,362
2014–2015 change: -0.9%
2013: 1,314
10: Seoul, South Korea
Region: Asia
2015: 1,365
2014: 1,356
2014–2015 change: 0.7%
2013: 1,302
9: Beijing
Region: Asia
2015: 1,449
2014: 1,408
