August the 18th, 2026 – Croatia currently ranks third globally for wealth growth, with the assets owned by the public growing by 29 percent in five years.
The value of Croatian citizens’ assets has risen strongly over the past five years. According to UBS’s annual Global Wealth Report, average net wealth per adult in Croatia increased by 29 percent between 2020 and 2025. Poslovni reports that this latest ranking has positioned Croatia third among the countries surveyed. Only South Korea, with a 55 percent increase, and Russia, where wealth per adult rose by 37 percent, recorded stronger growth.
Behind Croatia came Norway, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates, according to mojnovac.hr. It is important to note that UBS doesn’t look only at money held within bank accounts. The calculation includes financial assets such as savings, shares and bonds, as well as real estate and other assets. Citizens’ debts are subtracted from the total value, and growth rates are adjusted for inflation.
Only nine countries achieved growth above 20 percent
Between 2020 and 2025, only nine countries recorded growth in average wealth per adult of more than 20 percent. At the same time, average wealth fell in 15 countries. In Brazil the decline stood at three percent, in France 4.5 percent, in the Netherlands 14 percent, and in the United Kingdom as much as 23 percent. Such differences largely reflect different movements in real estate prices, financial markets and household indebtedness.
what about financial wealth?
Croatia doesn’t actually have a single official statistic that would show the total value of citizens’ assets, including real estate, savings, investments and other forms of ownership. The Croatian National Bank does, however, regularly monitor the financial assets of households. At the end of the first quarter of this year their net value – financial assets minus liabilities – amounted to around 88 billion euros. That is nine percent more than a year earlier.
If that amount were simply divided by the number of inhabitants, it would give a value of around 23,000 euros per inhabitant. This figure, however, does not include real estate and does not show how much wealth a typical household has, because wealth is very unevenly distributed.
UBS estimates that total global wealth grew by ten percent during 2025. At the same time, the number of people whose assets are worth more than one million dollars increased by almost a million. Millionaires now make up around 1.5 percent of the world’s population. Around 15 percent of the population, according to UBS, have assets worth between 100,000 and one million dollars.
very strong growth across eastern europe
Croatia also fits into a broader regional trend, despite not formally being included within eastern Europe. UBS notes that personal wealth in Eastern Europe rose by 28 percent during 2025, more than in any other region surveyed. In Western Europe growth was 17 percent, and in the Middle East 18 percent. UBS links the growth to strong financial markets and an increase in the value of non-financial assets, primarily real estate.
what this new ranking doesn’t mean…
With such data it is important to distinguish between average and median wealth. The average can rise strongly if the value of assets grows among the wealthier part of the population. The median, on the other hand, better shows what is happening to a citizen who is in the middle of the wealth distribution.
UBS warns that in many markets average wealth rose while median wealth fell at the same time. Therefore, the fact that Croatia ranks third globally when it comes to wealth growth should be read as an indicator of strong growth in the total value of Croatian citizens’ assets, and not as proof that every citizen is today 29 percent richer than five years ago.
