Our Writers · 2026-10-22
How Much Money Makes You Rich? Inside the Top 1% From Tokyo to Berlin
"Rich" is relative — but the newest data from several countries draw a surprisingly clear line.
Japan: ¥100 million and up
LIMO (LIMO | くらしとお金の経済メディア) reports that 1.653 million households hold net financial assets of ¥100 million or more — about 3 percent of all households — and that this group owns about 26 percent of all household financial assets of ¥1,795 trillion.
Japan's young rich
The same outlet looks at households in their twenties and thirties with incomes of ¥30 million or more, a new class it calls the young affluent (LIMO (LIMO | くらしとお金の経済メディア)).
Taiwan: NT$100 million
udn (udn房地產) counts more than 124,000 Taiwanese with assets above NT$100 million, and notes that they are buying property abroad faster.
Germany: the top 1 percent
Main-Post (Main-Post) breaks down how much the top 1 percent of earners in Germany make; regional rich lists — from the super-rich of Swabia (Augsburger Allgemeine) to the richest families of Schleswig-Holstein (Lübecker Nachrichten) — show how much wealth sits outside the big cities.
Spain: street by street
Forbes España (Forbes España) maps wealth down to individual streets, and El Mundo (El Mundo) names Pozuelo again as the richest municipality.
Whole countries
Capital (Capital.de) ranks the richest countries of 2026, and Ticinonline (Ticinonline) reports that the Swiss are the richest people in the world.
And at the very top
For comparison: the 50th largest fortune on our ranking is still worth tens of billions of dollars. The top 1 percent of a country and the top of the world list are different universes.
Figures: Forbes Real-Time Billionaires and companiesmarketcap.com as shown on our rankings on 22 October 2026; net worth is an estimate and moves every trading day. This article is information, not financial advice.
Sources:
【富裕層】純金融資産1億円以上は165万3000世帯で全体の約3％。この層が全資産1795兆円の約26％を持つ (LIMO | くらしとお金の経済メディア); 【新富裕層】世帯年収3000万円以上の20歳代・30歳代「若年富裕層」お金の使い方とは？現役世代のリアルな所得事情と「1人あたりの平均所得額」はいくら？ (LIMO | くらしとお金の経済メディア); 台灣資產破億富豪逾12.4萬人！有錢人加速布局海外 房產專家揭原因 (udn房地產); Top 1 Prozent Einkommen in Deutschland: So viel verdienen die reichsten Menschen (Main-Post); Ranking der Superreichen: Das sind die reichsten Menschen in Schwaben (Augsburger Allgemeine); Schleswig-Holstein: Das sind die reichsten Familien im Land (Lübecker Nachrichten); El mapa de la riqueza en España: así se reparte por calles (Forbes España); El mapa de la renta en España: Pozuelo repite como el municipio más rico y triplica la renta de Iznalloz, el más pobre (El Mundo); Die sind 2026 die reichsten Länder der Welt (Capital.de); Gli svizzeri sono i più ricchi del mondo (Ticinonline).