Egypt has the second-highest amount of private wealth in Africa with some USD 307 bn in private holdings, according to a new report (pdf) from investment firm Henley and Partners. This puts the country second only to South Africa, which dominates the list with almost double the amount of private wealth as Egypt and the highest number of high net worth individuals (those with a net worth above USD 1 mn), multi-mn’aires (those with over USD 10 mn) and centi-mn’aires (those with upwards of USD 100 mn).

Egypt is also home to the largest number of bn’aires on the continent, with seven of the continent’s 21 included in the group’s report. Most of these bn’aires (four) live in Cairo, which ranks as the third-richest city on the continent and holds some USD 128 bn (c.42%) of the country’s private wealth. Some 8.2k HNWIs, 440 multi-mn’aires, and 29 centi-mn’aires also call Cairo home. Alexandria, meanwhile, ranks as the 13th-richest city in Africa with some USD 23 bn in private wealth and where 1.7k HNWIs, 100 multi-mn’aires, 8 centi-mn’aires and 1 bn’aire reside.

These figures all pretty much fall in line with the findings of prior reports with a similar focus. A 2020 report prepared by Frank Knight found that Egypt held the second highest number of ultra-high net-worth individuals in Africa (UHNWI) — those with a net worth above USD 30 mn — after South Africa and above Nigeria. A separate 2018 report by AfrAsia Bank also concluded that Egypt was the second-wealthiest country in Africa by total wealth, but a distant sixth in wealth per capita.

Private wealth on the continent is expected to grow 38% and reach USD 3 tn over the next decade, which is most likely going to be driven by growth in technology and professional services. “We expect especially strong growth in the centi-mn’aire wealth band,” Andrew Amoils, head of research at the South Africa-based wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth — from which the entirety of the report’s data originates — told Bloomberg.

But overall, privately held wealth has actually been on the decline since 2011 across the continent: Total African wealth, which is currently worth some USD 2.1 tn, has seen a 7% decline in the 10 years between 2011 and 2021. This is primarily the cause of “poor returns” in South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, the report says. Egypt alone has experienced a 23% decline in privately held wealth in the past decade. The story is much the same for Nigeria and South Africa, which saw reductions of 27% and 12% in their respective private wealth holdings over the same period.

2020 was an especially trying year for African wealth which saw the number of high net-worth individuals fall from 138k in 2019 down to 125k in 2020 — the sharpest single-year decline tracked in the past decade.

Poorer countries on the other hand have seen growing wealth during this period: Mauritius, whose total private wealth of some USD 44 bn is considerably lower than Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa’s saw a 74% increase in private wealth in the past ten years. Rwanda, which ranked dead last in the report’s rankings, with only USD 11 bn in private wealth, saw a 60% increase in its holdings over the same period.

When it comes to per capita wealth, some of the top performers lose their edge: Along with this measure, which is probably a better indicator of how concentrated wealth is in many of these places, Mauritius seems to outperform every other country on the continent by a long shot with some USD 34.5k in wealth per capita. Egypt falls to 6th place with some USD 3k per capita, and Nigeria — which ranked third after Egypt in private wealth holdings — sinks to the 11th spot with some USD 1.1k per capita.

How does the math work? Ease of doing business in the country, safety, and a growing financial services sector were among the reasons posited by Henley as contributing to Mauritius’ performance. But it could also be that Mauritius has a tiny population of 1.26 mn compared to South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria and a decent number of HNWIs that are obscuring the actual degree of inequality.

Mauritius, Rwanda and Uganda are expected to be driving growth in wealth markets, which could reach some 60% over the next decade, the report suggests. Other countries on the list can expect to see more moderate growth in the ballpark of 20%-40% over the same period.

With all that in mind, it is still difficult to ignore the reality of inequality that plagues much of the continent: In South Africa, the country with the highest degree of income inequality on the continent, the richest 10% of the population own more than 85% of household wealth and some 3.5k adults own more than the poorest 32 mn people in the country. In Egypt, the country’s poverty rate rose to 32.5% in FY2017-2018, up from an estimated 27.8% in 2015 and the top 10% of income earners hold 49.9% of national income.