Ireland Is The World's Second Richest Nation...

Over 30,000 Millionaires Call The Country Their Home

Ireland is now the second wealthiest nation in the world with more than 30,000 millionaires living here, according to new research published by Bank of Ireland Private Banking.

"Astounding" growth in personal wealth has pushed Ireland into second place in a survey of the top eight Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations.

At current levels the average personal wealth per head of the population in Ireland is almost 150,000 Euro, the 'Wealth of the Nation' report found.

That is higher than the average wealth of 137,000 Euro in the UK and 129,000Euro in the US.

Only Japan has higher net wealth per head of population than Ireland. However some economists pointed out that Ireland still has reason to be concerned.

Although Japan is officially the wealthiest nation its economy has been stagnant for almost a decade and its house prices followed a similar trajectory to Ireland's over the past decade.

Economists also highlighted the fact that much of Ireland's wealth is on paper only and the country has huge levels of personal debt.

However the growth rate takes into account the increasing levels of household debt in the economy.

Net wealth in the Irish economy has grown by 350 per cent over the past decade - three times faster than the rate of growth in England.

"This highlights the rude health of Irish household's finances," said the report's author, senior economist Pat O'Sullivan.

Out of the estimated 30,000 millionaires, some 300 individuals are thought to have a net worth of more than €30 million.

A further 2,700 people are reckoned to have a net worth of€5 million to€30 million. Bank of Ireland's definition of millionaire excludes people's main residences.

If these were included, the number of millionaires in the country would be as high as 100,000.

The survey found that Irish wealth is "disproportionately" skewed toward property, with 71 per cent of total wealth invested in the asset last year.

Some 16 per cent of Irish wealth is invested in equities, while 10 per cent is held in cash and 3 per cent is invested in bonds.

Bank of Ireland forecasts that, by 2015, property will be less dominant. It predicts that the breakdown of investment will shift to 61 per cent in property, 22 per cent in equities, 12 per cent in cash and 5 per cent in bonds.

The move away from property will be prompted by "more realistic" property prices, while demographics will produce an ageing population which will show more interest in investment and pension funds.

Most of the Republic's wealth is "new money" created by people's willingness to borrow to invest further, according to Mark Cunningham, Bank of Ireland Private Banking's managing director.

"It has been entrepreneurial and more risk-orientated than many other developed countries where inheritance features more prominently," he said.

Personal disposable income in Ireland has doubled over the past 10 years, and is forecast to double again over the next decade.

The annual level of personal savings stood at €10 billion at the end of 2005 and this is forecast to increase to €13.5 billion by 2010 and to €24 billion by 2015.

Debt as a percentage of disposable income has increased from 89 per cent to 140 per cent in the last five years.

But Mr O'Sullivan said that neither the absolute level of borrowing nor borrowing levels relative to overall wealth were ahead of international norms.