Dubai's millionaires double as London drops down wealth list

New report highlights how world's wealthy are increasingly heading to investor-friendly Dubai

The number of millionaires living in Dubai has doubled in the past decade, making it one of the world’s fastest growing wealth hubs, a new report shows.

The World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2025, conducted by New World Wealth for Henley & Partners, also shows a shake-up of the traditional order, with millionaires leaving London in their thousands.

Their departure comes alongside changes to the tax status of non-doms – people who live in Britain but whose permanent home for tax purposes is outside the UK. Under the old rules, non-doms were liable to pay tax on money they made in the UK, but could live in the country without subjecting their overseas income to British tax rates.

According to the latest data, published on Wednesday, which is for 2024 and in US dollars, Dubai now has 81,200 millionaires, 237 centimillionaires, whose wealth is in the hundreds of millions, and 20 billionaires. The previous year, there were 72,500 millionaires, 212 centi-millionaires and 15 billionaires.

In the past decade there has been a 102 per cent increase in the number of millionaires in Dubai. Only the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Hangzhou have seen higher growth, of 142 per cent and 108 per cent respectively.

The UAE attracts more migrating millionaires than any other country, according to previous data from Henley & Partners, an investment migration advisory firm. Almost twice as many millionaires moved to Dubai than to the next most popular country, the United States.

Andrew Amoils, the head of research at New World Wealth, said a number of factors make Dubai an increasingly attractive destination for the wealthy. “It’s very safe and it has a highly diversified economy, so it appeals to all sorts of entrepreneurs,” he told The National. “It's a good place to start a business and it's a good place for investors to be based.”

Mr Amoils said the UAE's “most competitive tax rates in the world, with no capital gains tax and no income tax” encourage business formation and also appeal to wealthy retirees. As well as the UAE's financial attractions, a “first-class healthcare system”, Emirates airlines serving vital financial centres, good schools and year-round leisure activities are also powerful draws for the world’s wealthy, Mr Amoils explained.

“There is a very strong link with Europe and the UAE, and I don't really see that breaking apart any time soon,” he said.

The report also shows that 11,300 fewer millionaires were living in London in 2024 than in the previous year. Over the past decade there has been fall of 12 per cent, and of the world’s 50 wealthiest cities only Moscow, with a decrease of 25 per cent, has lost more.

Sam Bidwell, the director of research and education at the Adam Smith Institute, says there are a number of reasons why millionaires are leaving the UK. “High tax rates, a challenging business environment and declining public safety are all contributing factors,” Mr Bidwell has written in The National. “For many millionaires, the government’s decision to abolish the non-domiciled tax regime last year will have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, pushing them to finally relocate.

“In an increasingly competitive world, the success or failure of international cities will largely depend on their ability to attract high-quality people,” he said. “While London and the UK are driving away wealth through excessive taxation, Dubai is taking the opposite path. Don’t be surprised to see more British individuals – and more British businesses – setting up shop on the shores of the Creek in the years to come.”

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