There are more billionaires than ever, but the world’s richest collectors bought less art last year
Global art sales saw a 4% dip to ~$65 billion last year, per the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2024 by Arts Economics.
Inflation, rising interest rates, and political instability prompted the superaffluent to be a bit more cautious, leaning toward more modest purchases, according to UBS Global Wealth Management chief economist Paul Donovan.
But what caught our eye was a chart of the number of billionaires worldwide — which, according to data from Forbes cited in the report, has risen 175% since 2010.
Interestingly, the only country where art sales grew substantially was China, now the world’s second-largest art market, as transactions in the country rose 9% to a little over $12 billion. It’s also the country with the second-highest number of billionaires: per the report, the US counted 813 billionaires, while China had 473.
But what caught our eye was a chart of the number of billionaires worldwide — which, according to data from Forbes cited in the report, has risen 175% since 2010.
Interestingly, the only country where art sales grew substantially was China, now the world’s second-largest art market, as transactions in the country rose 9% to a little over $12 billion. It’s also the country with the second-highest number of billionaires: per the report, the US counted 813 billionaires, while China had 473.
