Why China millionaires are keen to emigrate

EVERY year for the last decade or so, media reports would appear, focusing on the plans of China's millionaires to leave the country. It was unclear how candid such high net worth individuals (HNWIs) were in responding to interviewers but usually, an alarming story would appear - alarming, that is, to the country's leaders - to the effect that many rich people were planning to pull up stakes.

Although its per capita income is still low, China today has 658 billionaires, more than the 584 in the United States, according to the Global Rich List published by Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute, which tracks rich people worldwide.

Mere millionaires are far more numerous. Families worth US$1.5 million or more were estimated at 1.47 million in early 2017. Among them, 99,000 were worth US$15.3 million, with 65,000 worth US$30 million. Together, they controlled trillions of dollars.