Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The other day a big consulting firm released a cheery report about the rapid growth in the ranks of the world's millionaires. Since the U.S. is the world's largest economy, it also has the largest number of millionaire households - 5.2 million. U.S. wealth grew at 10 percent in 2010. And that's great, but these numbers made me wonder about the other end of the scale. Sadly, the number among us that are in poverty is growing too.

Boston Consulting Group studies the world wealth market, toward providing consulting services to investment management companies. Total wealth everywhere was $121.8 trillion in 2010, climbing eight percent. North America has the greatest share of it, with $38.2 trillion, up 10.2 percent for the year, thanks to the rising stock market.

Millionaire households number 5.2 million, which is about 4.5 percent of the U.S. total -- one in twenty. That's more than any other country, and the next in line are Japan, China, the U.K. and Germany. In Switzerland, one in 10 households has over $1 million in wealth.

What the BCG report didn't go into is the other end of the income scale:

• Persons in the U.S. below the poverty level: 14.3 percent in 2009, nearly 44 million. There have been two big jumps in the proportion in poverty since 2004, says the Census Bureau.
• Median household income in 2008: $52,000. Half of us are above that, and half below.
• Households in the USDA SNAP program (formerly known as food stamps): 21 million in March 2011, or 18 percent. That's 46 million people total.