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The story
Altrata’s 2026 report, released September 1, ranks Hong Kong as the world’s second-largest city for “billionaires” — people with net worth of $1 billion or more — with 106 residents, trailing only New York. No Japanese city made the top 15. On 5ch, discussion centered on the fact that 64% of Hong Kong’s billionaires come from outside the city, the effects of the weak yen and real estate market conditions, and the reality of inequality within Japan. While some argued that “having fewer billionaires makes for a healthier society,” others countered that “Japan’s poverty rate is the second-highest in the G7 after the US,” splitting opinion on how to weigh a smaller wealth gap.
According to the “Billionaire Census 2026,” released September 1 by global wealth research firm Altrata, Hong Kong ranked among the cities with the most billionaires and ultra-wealthy individuals, trailing only New York. Here, a “billionaire” refers to an individual with assets of $1 billion or more. As of the end of 2025, the world’s billionaire population reached an all-time high of 3,795, up 8.2% year-on-year — the strongest growth in the past five years. Total wealth also swelled 12.8% to $15.1 trillion, underscoring billionaires’ growing influence on the global economy. (Hong Kong Economic Journal)
By city, New York held firmly onto first place with 164 billionaires. Hong Kong came in second worldwide with 106, maintaining its position as a global hub for the ultra-wealthy — though, like London, its count slipped slightly from the previous year amid a real estate market correction and a slowdown in the mainland Chinese economy. Even so, Hong Kong remains Asia’s center for finance and wealth management, continuing to draw wealthy individuals from around the world.
One notable feature of Hong Kong is that roughly 64% of its billionaires come from outside the city. Many have moved their assets from mainland China and elsewhere, giving Hong Kong — like Singapore — a strong character as an “international haven for the wealthy.” This reflects Hong Kong’s renewed standing as a hub for family offices and wealth management.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Tokyo has the largest population concentration in the world though
>Wealthy people do exist, but the layer that actually shows up in the statistics as "billionaires" with net assets of $1 billion or more is limited
The point being that there just aren't many people making truly absurd amounts of money (by global standards), and Japan isn't chosen as a destination for them to relocate to either
Whatever happened to that pro-democracy girl the West was trying to use as a poster child?
"One country, two systems" was only ever meant as a 50-year transitional arrangement in the first place
It has to change gradually, otherwise the whole point is lost
And here I thought Tokyo's land value alone used to be enough to buy the entire United States
Thanks to the wartime procurement boom (special demand from the Korean War era that fueled Japan's postwar economy)
What are you talking about? This gap is way past the point where you can just blame the weak yen
An unequal society is the embodiment of evil.
Right now Japan needs to boost its birth rate and population more than it needs rich people
South Korea's current birth rate:
2023: 0.72
2024: 0.75
2025: 0.80
It keeps climbing, unlike Japan's, which keeps falling year after year
Ever since Korea relocated its capital functions from the overcrowded Seoul metro area to Sejong, the birth rate has kept rising there — they've solved both the commute-time problem and the childcare waitlist problem
Looking at other Asian countries, Singapore
started paying out up to ¥8.75 million in cash per child, the world's most generous child-rearing support, yet its birth rate hasn't budged at all
What Singapore shows is that "space" is what actually matters for raising kids
The issue is space
Is a country really "wealthy" when, even outside of wartime, someone can starve to death after leaving behind a note saying "I want to eat a rice ball" (a reference to a notorious case of a welfare applicant left to starve)?
The Apple Daily chairman's sentence was finalized this year — 20 years in prison
Japanese nationals have also been mysteriously detained there
If you actually had freedom, you'd go to Florida instead
Isn't it as simple as just not engaging in anti-government activity?
Then again, as long as it's Japan, the US can seize everything too
This.
It's just that the inequality gap is huge
The poverty line is HK$5,000, about ¥100,000
Even in Japan, living on just the basic national pension would easily fall below that
Japan has HIKAKIN, Downtown's Hamada, Ariyoshi, and tons of other celebrities, and it still doesn't make the ranking?
You can't hit ¥154 billion in assets without starting your own company
Those guys don't have anywhere near ¥150 billion in assets
Hong Kong BS
@HKBS_JP
2026 "Billionaire Census": Hong Kong ranks world No. 2 — what about Japan?
Wealth research firm Altrata conducted its 2026 survey on the global billionaire population. According to the survey, Hong Kong is home to 106 billionaires, two fewer than the previous year, but still holds on to the world's No. 2 spot.
https://hongkong-bs.com/topics/20260901/
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HRGdDqwaYAADrsj.jpg
You should appreciate how much of a blessing it is for the average person to just live a normal life
That's exactly why the US and Europe run pro-China diplomacy too
Seriously, what is Japan even doing
Europe has been slapping 35% tariffs on Chinese cars since 2024
You're just ignorant
Who's actually getting richer here?
Only the tourism industry makes any money off it
This is written like it's a bad thing, but doesn't it just mean wealth redistribution works better in Japan than in the US or China? In the end, this is just a garbage article trying to talk Japan down.
The inconvenient truth is that this just shows Japan is a more equal society with a smaller wealth gap
Of course there's inequality
Without it there's no growth
If the outcome is the same whether you work hard or not, would you even bother trying?
Japan's inequality is the unfair kind — the gap between regular and non-regular employees — which involves no real competition
That's exactly why Japan can't grow
Plenty of rare earths flow in too, you know?
And besides that, trade with China is their largest trading relationship anyway, isn't it?
Re: #201
That said, they're not picking fights with China the way Japan does at all
That's exactly where the perception is off
Europe and the US are just doing business — they're not blowing up deals over emotional arguments the way Japan does
Background and Key Points of Debate
The survey is based on Altrata’s count of “billionaires” — individuals with a net worth of $1 billion or more. Notably, Hong Kong has retained its status as an international wealth-management hub even after the enactment of the National Security Law. The fact that over 60% of its billionaires come from outside Hong Kong points to a continued inflow of assets from mainland China and elsewhere. On the thread, the view that “a society with fewer billionaires is a healthier one” clashed with the counterargument that “Japan’s relative poverty rate is the second-highest in the G7 after the US,” though the thread never really dug into the fact that the number of billionaires and a country’s domestic poverty rate aren’t necessarily linked indicators. Some also pointed to the effects of the weak yen and the real estate market, suggesting that “wealth” as measured by a city ranking and inequality as experienced in everyday life are really separate axes worth considering on their own terms.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Hong Kong Ranks World’s No. 2 ‘Billionaire City’ — Japan Barely Registers, Misses Top 15“.
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