Millionaires hold dimmer view: Survey

At a time of economic slowdown combined with market uncertainties, Chinese millionaires' confidence in the country's economy in the next two years has dropped for a second consecutive year, according to the GroupM Knowledge-Hurun Wealth Report 2013.

The report was co-released by the media investment management firm GroupM China and the Shanghai-based Hurun Report on Wednesday.

One quarter of the millionaires surveyed said they were "very confident" in the economy in the next two years, down about 3 percentage points year-on-year. In the previous year, 54 percent of the respondents said that they were "very confident" in the economy.

About 9 percent of the surveyed millionaires said they are not confident in the country's economy, 2 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the number of millionaires - those with a personal wealth of 10 million yuan ($1.63 million) or more - has increased to 1.05 million this year, 30,000 more than a year earlier. The number of the super-rich, those who have personal assets worth over 100 million yuan, has increased by 1,000 to reach 64,500.

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However, the growth rates in the number of millionaires and super-rich people were the slowest ever since the Hurun Wealth Report was first published five years ago.

"Although the growth rate of China's millionaires is the lowest in the last five years, we can still gain insights into their life choices as revealed from the changes in their consumption and investment preferences, their perception of life and health and social responsibility, despite uncertainty in the wider environment. This will help brand marketers to think deeper about what kind of value their brands could offer in their brand communication strategy," said Eve Lo, chief knowledge officer of GroupM China.

Beijing remains home to 184,000 millionaires and 10,700 super-rich people. Guangdong - home to 172,000 millionaires and 9,600 super-rich people - dislodged Shanghai and grabbed the second slot.