Nigeria has lost nearly half of its dollar millionaires over the past decade, with the population of high-net-worth individuals falling by 47 per cent between 2015 and 2025, according to the 2025 Africa Wealth Report by Henley & Partners in collaboration with New World Wealth.
Despite the sharp erosion in private wealth, Nigeria retained its position as Africa’s fourth-largest hub for dollar millionaires, with 7,200 millionaires, 20 centi-millionaires (individuals with investable wealth of at least $100 million) and three billionaires, trailing only South Africa, Egypt and Morocco.
The report showed that South Africa remained the continent’s wealthiest country by number of dollar millionaires, with 41,100 millionaires, 112 centi-millionaires and eight billionaires. Egypt followed with 14,800 millionaires, 49 centi-millionaires and seven billionaires.
Morocco ranked third with 7,500 millionaires, 35 centi-millionaires and four billionaires, narrowly ahead of Nigeria, while Kenya completed the top five with 6,800 millionaires, though it had no billionaires.
Mauritius occupied the sixth position with 4,800 millionaires, followed by Algeria with 2,700, Ghana 2,600, Namibia 2,500 and Ethiopia 2,400, completing the list of Africa’s top 10 countries by resident dollar millionaires.
Among the countries surveyed, Seychelles had the smallest millionaire population at 500, although it still recorded one billionaire and six centi-millionaires. Mozambique followed with 800 millionaires, while Rwanda and Zambia each had 1,000 millionaires. Uganda ranked fifth from the bottom with 1,600 millionaires.
The report attributed wealth trends across the continent to varying economic conditions, investment climates and capital market development, noting that several countries, including Tunisia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, were excluded from the ranking due to insufficient reliable data.
Nigeria’s decline in millionaire numbers underscores the impact of prolonged macroeconomic challenges, including currency depreciation, high inflation and weak economic growth, which have eroded private wealth over the past decade while other African markets have shown greater resilience.
