Europe Has Longest-Lasting Wealthy Dynasties, Notes Societe Generale/Forbes Study

Tom Burroughes

3 April 2014

Perhaps unsurprisingly given its history, Europe boasts the longest-lasting wealthy dynasties, but its ability to make strengths of family continuity count cannot be taken for granted, according to a and Forbes Insights report.

The study, called, Behind the Staying Power of Wealth Creation in Europe: Family, Long-Lived & Long-Term-Oriented, found that during the past quarter of a century, Europe has expanded its share of the world’s largest fortunes, with the second-highest rise in the number of such fortunes, after the Americas, and the second-highest rise in aggregate growth of fortunes held by the wealthiest individuals.

Of the fortunes that have been on the Forbes Billionaires lists for at least a quarter of a century, Europe has the highest survival rate, at 78 per cent, followed by the US at 73 per cent, the report said. The longest-surviving European fortunes are mostly private (67 per cent) and family-controlled or owned, with the majority (52 per cent) being managed or owned by third and fourth generations.

Europe owes its pace of growth in fortune creation over the last 15 years to emerging European markets, the report said. Emerging Europe accounts for 42 per cent of the number of Europe’s largest fortunes, and 39 per cent of wealth held by Europe’s richest individuals.

Back in 2002, Germany was in second place for most billionaires by country, after the US. It was overtaken by Russia in 2008. (Russia has since been overtaken by China.)

Most recently, Europe has been generating new fortunes at a moderate pace. Europe has generated 26 per cent of the world’s new fortunes over the last two years, behind the Americas and Asia-Pacific. Within Europe, more of the newest fortunes have been generated in Western Europe than in emerging Europe.

Many Western European fortunes are the result of the second generation reaching billionaire status based on companies started years ago. And in emerging markets, some new fortunes still hark back to the post-communist asset privatisations.

(Forbes Insights is the strategic research practice of Forbes Media, publisher of Forbes magazine and Forbes.com.)

The study is based on an analysis of ultra high net worth individuals in Europe, conducted by Forbes Insights, as well as interviews with European industrialists and experts on European wealth creation. The analysis involved the study of “Forbes Billionaires” data collected over the last 25 years, alongside data from the “Rich Lists” created by Forbes Russia, Forbes Ukraine, Forbes Poland, Forbes Romania, Forbes Czech Republic and Forbes Turkey.