時事新聞:中國富豪人數超越英國
【英文原文】
China Millionaire Numbers Surpass the U.K.'s
摘要：按照人均財富來看，中國的百萬富翁仍然落後於很多國家；甚至按絕對數量來看，中國的百萬富翁人數還不到德國的一半。
The financial tumult of 2008 didn't spare the rich, according to the latest 'World Wealth Report' released by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and consulting firm Capgemini. At the end of last year, the world's population of high net worth individuals (defined as persons with investible assets of at least $1 million) had dropped 14.9% from the year before, while their aggregate wealth fell by 19.5%. reducing both the population of the rich and their assets down to levels below those of 2005.
In China, however, the ranks of the rich haven't been thinned as much, according to the report.
China had 364,000 millionaires at the end of 2008, compared with 413,000 the previous year, or a drop of 11.8%, which allowed China to pass the U.K. as the fourth-ranked country by millionaire population. Only the U.S., Japan and Germany have more millionaires.
To be sure, China's millionaire count still lags behind those of many other countries on a per capita basis, and even in absolute terms, China has less than half the number of millionaires than Germany. However, the report notes that private consumption in China (led, presumably, by the rich) 'seems to have had a more significant contribution than in the U.S., with a rise in car and housing sales suggesting increased confidence in the domestic Chinese economy.' The report also warned against reading too much into the early sings of recovery in China, given the country's heavy dependence on exports, and forecasts a 2009 GDP growth rate of 6%, below the government's 8% target.
Those who laud the Chinese cultural bias for savings might also discover a cautionary tale in the recent circumstances of Hong Kong's rich. In that city, where residents have more freedom to speculate in stock and property markets than in mainland China, the millionaire population dropped by 61.3%, the steepest drop in the world. The report attributes this mainly to the 49.9% drop in the market capitalization of Hong Kong-listed companies in 2008, along with the fact that a large proportion of Hong Kong's millionaires are at the lower end of the wealth spectrum, with assets worth $1 million to $5 million.
【中文譯文】
2008年的全球金融動盪也沒有放過富人們。根據美林全球財富管理(Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management)和諮詢公司凱捷（Capgemini）公佈的最新《全球財富報告》(World Wealth Report)，截至去年年底，全球高資產淨值人口（擁有至少100萬美元的可投資資產）較上年同期減少了14.9%，他們的財富總額減少了19.5%；因此，全球百萬富翁總數和資產總額都跌到2005年以前的水平。
但報告顯示，中國的富人數量並沒有縮水那麼誇張。截至2008年年底，中國共有36.4萬名百萬富翁，較上年同期的41.3萬人減少了11.8%。中國已經超越英國成爲了全球百萬富翁人口第四多的國家，僅次於美國、日本和德國。
當然，按照人均財富來看，中國的百萬富翁仍然落後於很多國家；甚至按絕對數量來看，中國的百萬富翁人數還不到德國的一半。不過，報告指出，中國的私人消費（估計主要由富人帶動）給經濟帶來的推動力似乎超過了美國富人，中國汽車和住房銷量的增長顯示出富人們對中國經濟的信心不斷增強。報告還警告稱，鑑於中國經濟嚴重依賴出口，不能過度看重中國經濟復甦的初步跡象。報告預計2009年中國國內生產總值(GDP)將增長6%，增速低於中國政府制定8%的增長目標。
那些讚美中國勤儉節約文化的人們可能還會發現，香港富人狀況最近出現了一個值得注意的變化。較之中國大陸，香港居民可以更爲自由地投資股市和地產市場。香港的百萬富翁人口減少了61.3%，是全球跌幅最大的。報告將這種變化主要歸咎於香港上市公司去年市值縮水了49.9%，以及香港百萬富翁中有很大一部分人的資產都位於100萬-500萬美元的範圍，因此很容易跌出百萬富翁的行列。
