Global financial assets are rising thanks to the stock market boom – Germany is lagging behind

Household financial assets are increasing thanks to booming stock markets. But anyone in Germany who relies on savings accounts instead of stocks will miss out on most of the growth.

Dusseldorf. According to Allianz calculations, private households around the world are wealthier than ever. Booming stock markets caused financial assets to rise by 8.6 percent to 268.4 trillion euros gross last year. For the current year, the insurer's economists are forecasting a further increase of 9 percent in the 17th edition of their annual wealth study (“Global Wealth Report”).

Those who had invested money in stocks and other securities particularly benefited in 2025: four out of five euros of asset growth in the 57 countries examined were reportedly due to increases in value on the capital markets.

As in previous years, just over half (51.4 percent) of the global growth in financial assets came from the USA. North American households have invested almost two thirds of their financial assets (60.7 percent) in the stock market.

Germany lags behind in global comparison

In Germany, too, according to Allianz data, securities overtook holdings in bank accounts such as daily and fixed-term deposits for the first time, with a share of 37.1 percent. However, the share of securities is still well below the international average of 46.9 percent. Although many Germans save like the world champions, they only increase their wealth to a limited extent. In total, the Germans invested 319.3 billion euros.

With an increase of 4.9 percent to 9.9 trillion euros, gross financial assets in this country grew significantly less than the global average in 2025 and also more slowly than a year earlier in Germany, which grew at 7.4 percent.

The development of the inflation rate must also be taken into account, explained Allianz chief economist Ludovic Subran: "Since 2019, nominal financial assets have increased by 50 percent. In real terms, i.e. adjusted for inflation, but only by 23 percent."

In Western Europe the development is even weaker: Here, real financial assets are only 0.5 percent above the 2019 level. In North America it is 21 percent and in China 70 percent.

Germany is in 12th place

Deducting debt, at the end of 2025 the countries under consideration, which, according to Allianz, account for 91 percent of global economic output and 72 percent of the world population, had net financial assets of 211.5 trillion euros. This is 10.1 percent more than a year before.

With the equivalent of 296,950 euros in net financial assets per capita, the USA continues to lead the ranking by far, ahead of Switzerland (275,980 euros) and Denmark (197,510 euros). Germany is in 12th place out of 57 countries with 91,780 euros. Pakistan remains at the bottom with per capita assets less debts of 490 euros.

In general, the huge amount of private financial assets is distributed very unevenly: In Germany, the richest ten percent of the population own more than half (53.7 percent) of the total net financial assets. Globally, the richest ten percent account for 85.4 percent. Almost three billion people of the world population included in the analysis have practically no net financial assets.

Cash, bank deposits, securities such as stocks and bonds as well as claims against insurance companies and pension funds are taken into account in the evaluation, but not real estate.