Asia’s millionaires outnumber North America’s – survey

HONG KONG – Asia’s millionaires outnumbered North America’s for the first time last year as the world’s wealthy saw their fortunes declined amid turbulent financial markets, a new survey says.

The report by Capgemini and Royal Bank of Canada released Monday found that the Asia-Pacific region was home to 3.37 million people who have at least $1 million to invest. That’s up 1.6 percent from the year before. In second place was North America with 3.35 million.

The annual report found that the combined wealth of the world’s wealthy declined 1.7 percent in 2011 to $42 trillion. The contraction came as financial markets grew more volatile over widespread concerns about the European sovereign debt crisis.