Lagos Home to 6,300 Millionaires, 4th Highest in Africa

A new Henley Global Citizens report reveals that 6,300 millionaires and 3 billionaires live in Lagos, Nigeria, ranking it the fourth highest among African cities.

The new report published Tuesday by Henley Global Citizens reveals that of the 6,300 millionaires that live in Lagos, 330 have a fortune of more than $10 million, 20 residents have a fortune worth more than $100 million – and there are 3 billionaires.

Lagos which is Nigeria’s largest city and commercial capital is placed fourth in the list of the five richest cities in Africa according to the number of millionaires who live there.

The top five are Johannesburg, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos and Nairobi. Also according to the report, New York is the richest city with the largest number of millionaires and billionaires.

What makes a millionaire? 

The report defines a millionaire as someone who has investable assets worth a million dollars or more. This includes cash, savings accounts and investments in stocks, government bonds and mutual funds.

New York – which ranked first – is home to 345,600 millionaires, including 737 millionaires with a net worth of $100 million or more, and 59 billionaires, according to the report based on June 30 data.

Tokyo ranked second, with 304,900 millionaire residents, and 12 billionaires. London, San Francisco and Singapore complete the opening five.

In addition to New York and San Francisco (3rd place), four other cities in the United States – Los Angeles (6th), Chicago (7th), Houston (8th) and Dallas (18th) entered the 20 richest cities based on the population of millionaires living in them.

Houston made the biggest progress, jumping four spots from last year.

Other richest cities in the world according to the number of millionaires living in them are Beijing (9), Shanghai (10) and Hong Kong (12); in Europe – Zurich (15), and Geneva (19); and in Australia – Sydney (11) and Melbourne (17).

Fourteen of the 20 richest cities are in countries with a “golden visa” or “golden passport” program, which grants the wealthy resident or citizen rights in exchange for a significant investment, according to the report.

“The right to live, work and invest in international wealth centers such as New York, London, Singapore, Sydney and Toronto can be secured through investment,” the report states.

Henley & Partners says it has seen unprecedented enquiries regarding alternative residence and/or additional citizenship over the past few years from investors and wealthy families across the globe, including an increasing number of African nationals, and interest is constantly rising.

In the six months to the end of June 2022, it had already received 63% of the enquiries received in the entire 2021 year from affluent citizens of African countries.

South Africa and Nigeria are in the top 10 countries globally in terms of both enquiries and applications in 2022, and other African countries generating high levels of enquiries and applications are Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, and Uganda.

The top five programs that African nationals are enquiring about in 2022 are the Portugal Golden Residence Permit Program, the St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Program, the Canada Start-Up Visa Program, the Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Program, and the UK Innovator Program.

European destinations such as Malta, Montenegro, Spain, and Greece are also popular to secure either residence rights or citizenship through investment.