Greece is among the ten top nations in the world attracting foreign millionaires, according to a recent study by Henley Private Wealth Report that tracks the comings and goings of the world’s 1 percenters.
Some 1100 foreign millionaires resettled in Greece in 2023 and another 1200 are seen coming in 2024.
Despite a tough start to the decade following the Greek financial crisis, Greece has rebounded strongly, with real estate prices and millionaire numbers in the country rising significantly over the past few years in particular, the report says.
Greater Athens (Attica), Mykonos, and Crete are all hotspots among wealthy migrants.
Golden Visa pushes the number of foreign millionaires in Greece
Golden Visa applications in Greece are surging before the changes introduced recently take effect, as reports say that wealthy Americans are increasingly looking for supplementary passports.
New applications for five-year residence permits through the Golden Visa program continue unabated in Greece, as 1,299 new applications were submitted in the first two months of this year, compared to 1,248 applications submitted in the corresponding two months last year.
The surge in applications is expected to grow before the new requirements take effect at the end of August. Greece is increasing the minimum amount a third national needs to invest and secure the residence permit. This is to tackle the country’s housing crisis.
In popular regions, such as Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, and the islands with a population of over 3,100 inhabitants, the threshold increases to 800,000 euros while in other areas the threshold is 400,000 euros and above.
Countries attracting foreign millionaires
With its zero income tax, golden visas, luxury lifestyle, and strategic location, the UAE has entrenched itself as the world’s number one destination for migrating millionaires and is poised to welcome a record net inflow of 6,700 this year alone.
With consistent high inflows from India, the wider Middle East region, Russia, and Africa, the anticipated influx of larger numbers of Brits and Europeans looks set to see the Emirates attract nearly twice as many millionaires as its nearest rival, the US, which is projected to benefit from a net inflow of 3,800 millionaires in 2024.
In the third position, following the US is Singapore with net inflows of 3,500, while the perennially popular destinations for migrating millionaires, Canada and Australia, follow in 4th and 5th places with net inflows of 3,200 and 2,500, respectively.
European favorites Italy (+2,200), Switzerland (+1,500), Greece (+1,200) and Portugal (+800) all make it into this year’s Top 10 for net millionaire inflows along with Japan, which is on course to welcome 400 wealthy migrants, the Henley Private Wealth Report notes.
Head of Research at New World Wealth, Andrew Amoils, says the benefits of this migration of wealth and talent to these destination countries are significant and wide-ranging.
“Migrating millionaires are a vital source of forex revenue as they tend to bring their money with them when they move to a country. Also, around 20% of them are entrepreneurs and company founders who may start new businesses and therefore create local jobs in their new country, and this percentage rises to over 60% for centi-millionaires and billionaires.”
The UK is expected to see an unprecedented net loss of 9,500 millionaires in 2024 — second only to China worldwide, and more than double the 4,200 who left the country last year, which was itself record-breaking following the exodus of 1,600 high-net-worth individuals in 2022.
Besides China, the UK, India, South Korea, and Russia, the remaining places in the Top 10 millionaire outflow ranking are taken up by Brazil where a millionaire drain of 800 is projected this year, followed by South Africa (-600), Taiwan (-400), and Vietnam and Nigeria, which are both set to see 300 millionaires take flight.