Who wants to be a millionaire? Well in Ireland, where household net wealth is at a record high, one in eight households already is. On paper, at least.
According to new central bank data that delves into how wealth is shared out across the nation of 5.1mn people, 12 per cent of households have net wealth of €1mn or more, compared with just 5 per cent in 2013, when Ireland emerged from recession.
Indeed, Ireland’s households have amassed record net wealth of more than €1tn — a combined nest egg that has grown by €544bn in under a decade, according to provisional distributional wealth accounts data. The Irish are avid savers, socking away almost a fifth of their incomes — higher than almost any other country in Europe. But most of their riches are down to the value of their property.