Millionaire migration redraws the map of global wealth hubs

Singapore, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Hong Kong and New Zealand are emerging as some of the most attractive destinations for internationally mobile wealth in 2026, while the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Norway and South Korea are facing growing competitiveness pressures as tax reforms, fiscal uncertainty, and policy shifts prompt wealthy individuals and families to reassess their options.

At the same time, two wealth mobility flashpoints look set to reshape the geography of global wealth this year: the US, the world’s largest private wealth market and creator of new wealth, is also generating record demand for residence and citizenship optionality as affluent Americans seek international diversification in unprecedented numbers; and the Gulf, where ongoing conflict is testing the resilience of the region’s emerging wealth hubs, particularly the UAE, the leading destination for millionaire migration over the past two years, prompting a new phase of contingency planning among its internationally mobile residents.

These findings are among the key insights from the Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2026, released on Tuesday by the international residence and citizenship advisory firm, which identifies a growing shift away from traditional relocation planning as the world’s wealthiest increasingly build ‘sovereign portfolios’ of residence rights, citizenships, investments, and business interests across multiple jurisdictions.

In the first five months of 2026 alone, Henley & Partners received applications from 86 nationalities across 47 investment migration programmes. More than 28% of applicants currently live outside their country of nationality, underscoring a defining characteristic of today’s wealth landscape: high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and their families are increasingly structuring their lives across a range of jurisdictions rather than remaining tied to a single country.

“For much of the past century, governments could largely treat their wealthiest residents as a relatively fixed asset, rooted in businesses, family ties, and limited international mobility. That assumption is becoming increasingly outdated,” said Juerg Steffen, CEO at Henley & Partners. “As a result, jurisdictions are competing not only for capital, but also for the entrepreneurs, investors, business owners, and skilled individuals who drive economic growth, innovation, employment and prosperity.”

A new framework for understanding wealth mobility

The 2026 edition marks the most significant evolution of the Henley Private Wealth Migration Report since its launch.

While previous editions focused primarily on millionaire migration estimates and directional wealth flows, this year’s report introduces the Global Wealth Mobility Framework, a pioneering analytical model developed by Henley & Partners to assess the structural competitiveness of jurisdictions in the competition for internationally mobile wealth, with analytical modelling, data integration and technical support from AlphaGeo.

The framework evaluates jurisdictions across 12 weighted dimensions, including tax treatment, rule of law, quality of life, investor and high-net-worth (HNW) migration pathways, family inclusion, geopolitical stability and capital mobility. Findings are benchmarked against authoritative data from organisations including the World Bank, IMF, OECD and Global Peace Index, and cross-checked against Henley & Partners’ proprietary enquiry and application trends, policy developments and market intelligence.

Each jurisdiction receives a Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score that measures its relative attractiveness and competitiveness for globally mobile individuals, families and capital. The score is not intended to measure economic success or migration flows, but rather the structural factors that influence wealth mobility decisions.

“For more than a decade, the debate around wealth mobility has focused on where millionaires are moving,” said Philippe Amarante, head of Government Advisory at Henley & Partners. “That remains important, but policymakers increasingly want to understand why wealth moves and how their jurisdiction compares against competing destinations. The Global Wealth Mobility Framework provides a more sophisticated lens through which to assess those dynamics.”

The report also includes a series of policy spotlights examining how taxation, residence and citizenship programmes, geopolitical developments, and regulatory competitiveness are reshaping private wealth migration around the world.

“The world’s most mobile wealth is making jurisdictional decisions the way sovereign wealth funds allocate portfolios, diversifying across climates, governance systems, and geopolitical zones to protect against shocks none of us can fully foresee,” said Parag Khanna, founder and CEO of AlphaGeo. “The wealthy individual of 2026 is no longer selecting a single country. They are constructing a portfolio of jurisdictions.”

The Global Wealth Mobility Leaders of 2026

The report identifies a group of jurisdictions demonstrating particularly strong structural positioning in 2026 for attracting, retaining, and supporting internationally mobile wealth.

Among the standout performers are Singapore (with a Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score of 79.5 out of 100) and New Zealand (75.8). The Southeast Asian sovereign city-state continues to consolidate its position as one of the world’s leading wealth hubs, underpinned by political stability, strong institutions, deep capital markets, and sustained demand from internationally mobile wealth across Asia. New Zealand is attracting renewed investor interest following reforms to its Active Investor Plus Visa Programme, supported by strong rule of law, geopolitical stability, and its appeal as a destination for long-term family planning.

A second group of strong performers includes the Cayman Islands (74.3), Cyprus (73.5), the Netherlands (72.8), Portugal (72.5), Italy (72.3) and Bermuda (72.0).

Italy is among the leading European success stories of 2026. Interest continues to be driven by its flat-tax regime for new residents, favourable inheritance tax framework, and access to the EU market, with Milan increasingly emerging as an international financial and family office centre.

The report also highlights Uruguay (71.8), Latvia (71.7), Panama (71.5), Hong Kong (71.2), Switzerland (70.8), Greece (70.5), Costa Rica (70.2) and Monaco (70.0), as highly competitive wealth mobility jurisdictions.

Switzerland is benefiting from heightened demand for stability, capital preservation, and wealth protection amid elevated geopolitical uncertainty, while Hong Kong is experiencing renewed momentum as family office activity and investor migration demand regain traction. Greece is one of the clearest beneficiaries of recent changes to Europe’s investment migration landscape, following Spain’s golden visa closure and Portugal’s withdrawal of its real estate-linked investment route. Its rise reinforces a broader policy lesson: when governments close established pathways for globally mobile wealth, demand does not disappear; it relocates.

Markets under pressure: Countries to watch

The report also identifies several jurisdictions where tax reforms, policy developments, regulatory changes, or broader competitiveness concerns are increasingly influencing wealth mobility decisions.

Among those classified as ‘Competitive jurisdictions under pressure’ are Germany (69.7), Norway (69.0), the UK (68.3), South Korea (66.2), and France (65.7).

Henley & Partners’ investor demand trends suggest these shifts are already influencing wealth mobility behaviour.

Applications from individuals with a UK address increased by 15% between 2024 and 2025. So far in 2026, foreign nationals account for 53% of all applications originating from UK addresses, meaning British citizens now represent almost half of all applicants processed by the firm, up from just 8% in 2018. More broadly, the UK has risen from Henley & Partners’ 20th-largest source market for new clients in 2018 to consistently ranking among its five largest globally in recent years.

The trend highlights a broader policy lesson. The abolition of the non-dom tax regime, changes to inheritance tax treatment, the closure of the Tier 1 Investor Visa, and a broader climate of fiscal and policy uncertainty have collectively reshaped the UK’s value proposition for globally mobile wealth. In doing so, the UK has simultaneously weakened both its attraction and retention proposition.

“High-net-worth migration is the canary in the coal mine for economic policy,” said Douglas McWilliams, founder of the Centre for Economics and Business Research. “If wealthy people are leaving a country en masse, you can be reasonably sure that the country’s economic policy isn’t working.”

Germany and France tell a related story. Both countries continue to benefit from strong institutions, economic scale, and international connectivity, yet debates around wealth taxation, exit taxes, fiscal predictability, and long-term competitiveness are increasingly prompting their affluent residents to explore residence and citizenship options beyond their home markets.

Henley & Partners recorded a 16% increase in enquiries from German nationals between the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025 and the first quarter (Q1) of  2026, while demand from French nationals has grown significantly, with France rising from the firm’s Top 40 source nationalities for applications in 2024 to its Top 15 in 2026.

“What is striking is that Germany and France have not become unattractive. They have become less competitive on precisely the dimensions internationally mobile wealth weighs most heavily, just as some of their peers have strengthened their own proposition,” said Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna, managing partner and head of Europe at Henley & Partners. “Within Europe, we are increasingly seeing capital and talent gravitate towards jurisdictions that combine strong institutions with attractive tax frameworks, policy predictability and clear residence pathways. Italy and Greece have been particularly successful in positioning themselves for this shift.”

The report also highlights a group of jurisdictions facing more persistent structural wealth mobility challenges, including Brazil (64.2), China (60.5), Russia (58.7), India (56.5), Iran (45.8), Lebanon (45.5) and Nigeria (43.0).

India and China remain among the world’s most important sources of new wealth, yet factors such as capital controls, tax complexity, international access considerations, geopolitical uncertainty, and broader lifestyle and diversification needs continue to encourage many of their affluent families to adopt international wealth and mobility planning strategies.

The American wealth paradox

With a Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score of just 62.3, the US occupies a unique position in the framework. The US remains the largest engine of wealth creation, entrepreneurship, and capital formation, yet it is also Henley & Partners’ largest single source market for residence and citizenship planning globally. Applications from US nationals doubled in 2025 compared to the previous year and remain elevated in 2026. Only 7% of applications by US citizens originate from Americans living outside the country, highlighting that demand is being driven overwhelmingly by US residents rather than expatriates. Nearly half of all applications from US nationals are directed towards European programmes, while more than a quarter focus on programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The contrast reflects a broader trend identified by the framework: wealth creation and wealth mobility competitiveness are not the same thing. While the US remains unmatched in capital markets and wealth generation, factors such as citizenship-based taxation, fiscal complexity, and lengthy immigration processing times are encouraging affluent Americans to build greater international optionality.

“The wealthiest families increasingly think like portfolio managers,” said Basil Mohr-Elzeki, managing partner and head of Private Clients Americas at Henley & Partners. “They are building a deliberate architecture across jurisdictions: residence in one country, citizenship in another, business and banking structures elsewhere. The objective is to ensure that no single government holds the whole of a family’s life and capital. Additional citizenship and residence rights provide access and a hedge against political risk, while wealth tends to remain invested where opportunities and returns are strongest.”

The Gulf balancing act

The UAE tells the opposite story. Despite recent regional tensions, the Emirates achieved an impressive Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score of 85.3, one of the highest in the framework, reflecting its strength across tax competitiveness, investor access, family inclusion, safety, connectivity and long-term residence pathways.

However, Henley & Partners recorded a 41% increase in enquiries from UAE-based individuals between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026, while applications for alternative residence or citizenship rose by 29% over the same period. Most of this demand is being driven by expatriate entrepreneurs, investors, and internationally mobile families, using the UAE as a base rather than seeking to relocate away from it.

“The Gulf has proved remarkably resilient in the face of an historic shock,” said Justin Alexander, director of Khalij Economics. “While uncertainty may influence short-term behaviour, the region’s long-term appeal remains underpinned by low taxation, strong connectivity, high quality of life, and increasingly sophisticated financial services.”

Demand from UAE-based residents remains diversified across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Caribbean, Africa and the Americas, reinforcing the view that families are expanding their options rather than replacing their Gulf presence.

“What we are seeing is greater engagement around resilience and contingency planning rather than relocation,” said Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at Henley & Partners. “The UAE story in 2026 is one of diversification and optionality, not an exodus.”

Re-disseminated by Wealth and Society