Number of multimillionaires in Spain hits record level

Spain has 471 people who boast assets of more than €30 million – a record.

Despite – although many may argue because of – the recent economic downturn, the number of individuals registered as multimillionaires in Spain has reached record levels, recent data has revealed.

Although employment in Spain remains at around 22% (down from a high of more than 27% during the peak of the crisis), the country now has 471 people who have declared assets of more than €30 million – and that figure is set to rise before the end of 2015…

These figures were published last week by the Spanish Tax Agency, and show that there are now more than twice the number of multimillionaires than there were in 2007, which by all accounts was considered boom-time for Spain’s economy.

So why now, and why so many? The 2012 tax amnesty served to encourage a large number of wealthy individuals to declare fortunes that were previously concealed from the authorities, which means that in 2013 – the year from which the most current data is drawn – many, perhaps hundreds, of millionaires in Spain revealed themselves to the authorities, safe in the knowledge that their fortunes were safe and all they were likely to face was a small fine.

The amnesty uncovered around €40 billion in assets and holdings that Spain’s tax authority had been previously unaware of, and has since served to improve the country’s tax take. This latest data only analyses lawfully declared wealth, meaning that any further fraudulent activities or non-taxable assets are not taken into account – a situation that could put the number of genuine multimillionaires in Spain much higher.

In 2013, the number of individuals declaring assets worth more than €6 million rose sharply, following the amnesty, while mere millionaires (with assets below €6 million) reached 48,742 – the highest number ever.

The part of the country that attracts most of Spain’s wealthiest people is Madrid, where the top taxpayers have an average fortune of €8.17 million (above the national average of €3.01 million among this select group). Interestingly, Galicia in Spain’s north is the second most attractive destination for Spain’s tycoons, with an average fortune of €4.1 million. However, this anomaly can be partly explained by the presence of Spain’s richest man, Zara founder Amancio Ortega, who lives in the region.

Andalucía was a little further down the list, which is not too surprising: although the Costa del Sol region is home to a large concentration of multimillionaires, many of the more rural parts of the region are some of the poorest areas in Spain, which served to bring down Andalucía’s average.