Lee Yeon-woo is a financial journalist at The Korea Times. Her wide range of reporting includes policies, macroeconomics, stock market, companies and even crypto. She is passionate about connecting the dots in Korean finance and making it easier for foreign nationals to understand. Based on her previous experience as a national reporter, she also has a keen interest in social issues within the sector, including gender equality and ESG. Your tips and insights are always appreciated. You can send them to yanu@koreatimes.co.kr.
Seoul plunges in global rich city ranking due to won's weakness, exodus of wealthy
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By Lee Yeon-woo
Seoul experienced the sharpest drop in ranking among the world’s 50 wealthiest cities last year, driven by a weakening won against the dollar and an exodus of high-net-worth individuals, data showed Friday.
According to an annual report published by investment migration specialist Henley & Partners, in collaboration with data intelligence firm New World Wealth, the number of millionaires living in Seoul stood at 82,500 as of December 2024 — a 16.5 percent drop from a year earlier.
As a result, Seoul’s ranking fell five notches to 24th place, marking the steepest decline among the 50 cities analyzed.
New York (384,500) and the San Francisco Bay Area (342,400) in the U.S. claimed the first and second spots, respectively, while Tokyo (292,300) and Singapore (242,400) followed in third and fourth.
The report defines a millionaire as someone with investable liquid assets exceeding $1 million, excluding real estate. Assets such as publicly traded stocks, cash and cryptocurrencies are included in the calculation.
Although a combination of factors appears to have contributed to the decline, experts primarily attribute the Korean won’s sharp depreciation and a slump in the domestic stock market as key drivers behind Seoul’s downturn in 2024.
“If a significant portion of assets is held in Korean won, the depreciation of the currency can negatively impact overall values,” Seo Ji-yong, a professor of business administration at Sangmyung University, said.
“The recent decline in the domestic stock market also likely contributed to the overall decrease. Unlike Korea, countries like the U.S. experienced relatively strong stock market performance last year."
At the end of 2024, the Korean won weakened 14 percent compared to a year earlier, trading at 1,472.5 won per dollar. The benchmark KOSPI index also fell by 10 percent during the same period.
The outflow of high-net-worth individuals is considered another contributing factor.
In a separate report released last August by Henley & Partners and New World Wealth, Korea ranked fourth in net outflows of millionaires by country, with 1,200 individuals leaving. The country trailed only China, Britain and India.