How many millionaires left uk in 2025 and how many are left
Executive summary
Multiple industry reports put the headline figure for 2025 at a net outflow of roughly 16,500 millionaires from the UK — a projection driven into the headlines by the Henley Private Wealth Migration Report and repeated across business outlets [1] [2] [3]. That figure is contested: watchdogs and wealth researchers say the scale is tiny relative to the total millionaire population and that alternative data (notably UBS) show the UK’s millionaire ranks have in fact grown, meaning the true “left and remaining” picture is far less dramatic than some coverage suggests [4] [5] [6].
1. The headline: 16,500 millionaires “left” in 2025 — but it’s a net figure from Henley
Henley & Partners’ 2025 Wealth Migration reporting, amplified by New World Wealth and press partners, projects a net loss of approximately 16,500 high‑net‑worth individuals from the UK in 2025, with the migrants’ combined assets valued at roughly USD 91.8 billion — figures repeated by Business Insider, FTAdviser, Visual Capitalist and others [1] [2] [3] [7]. These reports stress a record single‑year net outflow and name popular destinations such as the UAE, Switzerland, the US and parts of Europe as beneficiaries [8] [2].
2. How many millionaires remained after that outflow — a simple arithmetic read that masks deeper disputes
Using UBS’s published estimate of 3,061,553 “total millionaires” in the UK in 2023 as a baseline, subtracting Henley’s net‑outflow projection yields roughly 3,045,000 millionaires remaining in 2025 on a back‑of‑the‑envelope basis — a decline of about 0.54 percentage points of that 2023 total [6] [1]. That arithmetic is straightforward but incomplete: it assumes the 2023 UBS stock figure and Henley’s 2025 net flow are directly comparable and ignores asset valuation shifts, births/deaths of millionaires, and differing definitions of “millionaire” used by each dataset [6] [9].
3. Why reputable critics say the exodus story is overstated — methodological and incentive flags
Tax Justice Network, Patriotic Millionaires UK and other critics argue the “exodus” frame misleads because migrations reported by Henley/New World Wealth represent well under 1% of national millionaire populations and because UBS’s Global Wealth data show substantial overall growth in UK millionaires — for example, a claim that there are 435,000 more millionaires today than previously reported undercuts the exodus narrative [4] [5]. Analysts have flagged undocumented methodological changes in Henley/New World Wealth series, the exclusion or treatment of real estate and pension wealth, and the promotional incentives of firms that sell residency/citizenship services — all factors that can inflate the political and commercial resonance of an outflow story [9] [5].
4. Two competing storylines: headline shock versus statistical context
The Henley narrative ties the outflow to policy shocks — inheritance tax and residency rule changes, the end of investor visas, and perceived fiscal hostility — and warns of lost tax receipts and business relocations [1] [8]. Counter‑narratives point out that Henley’s projected 16,500 exits would still be a small share of a multi‑million cohort and that polls cited by Patriotic Millionaires and Tax Justice Network show many wealthy UK residents remain rooted and willing to pay higher taxes [4] [10]. Both storylines can be true in part: there may be a measurable movement of wealthy, mobile individuals influenced by tax changes, while aggregate millionaire numbers can still rise because of asset appreciation, entrepreneurship and immigrant wealth creation [8] [6] [5].
5. Bottom line — the best defensible answer and its limits
The best defensible, sourced answer is that Henley & Partners projected a net outflow of about 16,500 UK millionaires in 2025 [1] [3], and applying UBS’s 2023 UK millionaire stock of roughly 3.06 million implies on simple arithmetic roughly 3.05 million remained after that outflow [6]. That conclusion must be read with large caveats: the Henley projection is contested and may use different definitions and methodologies than UBS; watchdog analyses argue the “exodus” represents a tiny fraction of the millionaire population and that other datasets show net growth in UK millionaires, not decline [4] [5] [9]. Present data do not let one say with confidence how many millionaires “truly left” versus how many changed residence status, saw their net worth fluctuate below or above the millionaire threshold, or were double‑counted across datasets — those granular reconciliations are not provided in the sources available [9] [6].