The financial tumult of 2008 didn't spare the rich, according to the latest 'World Wealth Report' released by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and consulting firm Capgemini. At the end of last year, the world's population of high net worth individuals (defined as persons with investible assets of at least $1 million) had dropped 14.9% from the year before, while their aggregate wealth fell by 19.5%. reducing both the population of the rich and their assets down to levels below those of 2005。

　　2008年的全球金融动荡也没有放过富人们。根据美林全球财富管理(Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management)和咨询公司凯捷(Capgemini)公布的最新《全球财富报告》(World Wealth Report)，截至去年年底，全球高资产净值人口(拥有至少100万美元的可投资资产)较上年同期减少了14.9%，他们的财富总额减少了19.5%；因此，全球百万富翁总数和资产总额都跌到2005年以前的水平。

　　In China, however, the ranks of the rich haven't been thinned as much, according to the report. China had 364,000 millionaires at the end of 2008, compared with 413,000 the previous year, or a drop of 11.8%， which allowed China to pass the U.K. as the fourth-ranked country by millionaire population. Only the U.S., Japan and Germany have more millionaires。

　　但报告显示，中国的富人数量并没有缩水那么夸张。截至2008年年底，中国共有36.4万名百万富翁，较上年同期的41.3万人减少了11.8%。中国已经超越英国成为了全球百万富翁人口第四多的国家，仅次于美国、日本和德国。

　　To be sure, China's millionaire count still lags behind those of many other countries on a per capita basis, and even in absolute terms, China has less than half the number of millionaires than Germany. However, the report notes that private consumption in China (led, presumably, by the rich) 'seems to have had a more significant contribution than in the U.S., with a rise in car and housing sales suggesting increased confidence in the domestic Chinese economy.' The report also warned against reading too much into the early sings of recovery in China, given the country's heavy dependence on exports, and forecasts a 2009 GDP growth rate of 6%， below the government's 8% target。

　　当然，按照人均财富来看，中国的百万富翁仍然落后于很多国家；甚至按绝对数量来看，中国的百万富翁人数还不到德国的一半。不过，报告指出，中国的私人消费(估计主要由富人带动)给经济带来的推动力似乎超过了美国富人，中国汽车和住房销量的增长显示出富人们对中国经济的信心不断增强。报告还警告称，鉴于中国经济严重依赖出口，不能过度看重中国经济复苏的初步迹象。报告预计2009年中国国内生产总值(GDP)将增长6%，增速低于中国政府制定8%的增长目标。

　　Those who laud the Chinese cultural bias for savings might also discover a cautionary tale in the recent circumstances of Hong Kong's rich. In that city, where residents have more freedom to speculate in stock and property markets than in mainland China, the millionaire population dropped by 61.3%， the steepest drop in the world. The report attributes this mainly to the 49.9% drop in the market capitalization of Hong Kong-listed companies in 2008, along with the fact that a large proportion of Hong Kong's millionaires are at the lower end of the wealth spectrum, with assets worth $1 million to $5 million。

　　那些赞美中国勤俭节约文化的人们可能还会发现，香港富人状况最近出现了一个值得注意的变化。较之中国大陆，香港居民可以更为自由地投资股市和地产市场。香港的百万富翁人口减少了61.3%，是全球跌幅最大的。报告将这种变化主要归咎于香港上市公司去年市值缩水了49.9%，以及香港百万富翁中有很大一部分人的资产都位于100万-500万美元的范围，因此很容易跌出百万富翁的行列。