Australia's median wealth decreased by nearly 7% between 2020 and 2025, while the average personal net wealth rose by 19% during the same period, according to a UBS Global Wealth Report. More than 25,000 individuals in Australia became millionaires in 2024.

As of 2025, Australia has 178 billionaires, whose collective wealth increased by $25.7 billion compared to the previous year. Worldwide, close to one million new millionaires were created in 2025. The median net wealth of Australian adults is nearly $211,000 USD, positioning Australia as having the third-highest median net wealth globally. Luxembourg holds the highest median net wealth, followed by Belgium.

Independent economist Saul Eslake commented on the situation, stating, "Australia hasn't experienced as much widening in income inequality as quite a lot of other similar countries, but we have had big increases in wealth inequality." He added that 3.7 million people in Australia live in poverty. Eslake identified housing as the primary factor driving wealth inequality. "The biggest driver of inequality by wealth is housing," Eslake said.

Median wealth declined in 18 of the 29 countries analyzed by UBS between 2020 and 2025. During this period, median wealth in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany each decreased by approximately 20%. Conversely, median wealth increased by 50% in Japan, 20% in India, and more than 10% in South Korea.

Eslake also noted that the tax system has not ameliorated market forces contributing to increased wealth inequality. "Our tax system does very little at all to ameliorate the market forces driving increased inequality in the distribution of wealth," Eslake said. He supports implementing an inheritance tax, citing the approximately $5.5 trillion in wealth projected to transfer from baby boomers to their children over the next 25 to 30 years. "I don't think it's at all unreasonable that some of that is taxed on estates of $5m or $10m, with exemptions for surviving spouses or partners," Eslake said.