Private household wealth worldwide has climbed to an unprecedented €269 trillion, according to the latest Allianz Global Wealth Report 2025.
Compared with the previous year, this represents an increase of 8.7 percent. Yet behind the impressive headline number lies a sobering reality: wealth distribution remains highly uneven, and Germany ranks only 13th among 57 surveyed countries.
Germany at the lower end of the rich world
Average net financial assets per capita in Germany stand at €86,800. In contrast, Americans hold around €311,000, more than three and a half times as much. Switzerland (€268,860) and Singapore (€197,460) are also far ahead of Europe’s largest economy.
The wealth gap is not due to lower savings discipline in Germany but rather to the way money is invested. While U.S. households channel around two-thirds of their new savings into financial markets, in Western Europe the figure is barely 26 percent.
The investment culture gap
This different investment culture explains much of the divergence. Over the past decade, U.S. wealth expanded by an average of 6.2 percent annually, compared with just 3.8 percent in Western Europe.
Germans remain conservative, holding on to low-yield savings accounts rather than benefiting from the compounding returns of equity markets.
Analysts describe this as an “investment problem” rather than an income problem. German households save diligently but miss opportunities to grow wealth through stock markets and ETFs.
The global wealth divide widens
The Allianz report also highlights the deepening concentration of global wealth. The richest ten percent of the world’s population – roughly 570 million people – now control 85 percent of total net assets.
Hopes that poorer countries might narrow the gap with richer nations have largely stalled since 2017.
Although overall household wealth is expected to rise by another six percent in 2025, inflation-adjusted growth tells a different story.
In real terms, the wealth of private households is no higher than in 2017, revealing that part of the apparent boom is an inflation-driven illusion.
Implications for Germany and beyond
The findings underscore the urgent need for better financial education in Germany. Experts argue that debates over redistribution miss the core issue: a structural reluctance to embrace equity investment.
Without a cultural shift towards stocks and long-term capital market strategies, German households risk falling even further behind.
