China has 'over 1m multimillionaires'

SHANGHAI -- The latest edition of the Hurun Report issued Tuesday indicated that the number of multimillionaires in China reached 1.02 million as of the end of 2011.

The report said that Chinese individuals with more than 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) broke through the one million mark for the first time.

There are 63,500 billionaires among these individuals, it said.

According to the report, 84 percent of wealthy individuals are concentrated in the eastern, northern and southern regions of China.

The report said Beijing is home to the greatest number of wealthy people, with 179,000 multimillionaires.

Rising property prices and a fast-growing GDP were a key driver for growth in the number of Chinese multimillionaires in 2011, according to the report.

The report said Hong Kong, Taowan and Macau are not included in the statistics.

The Hurun Report, founded by Rupert Hoogewerf, is a magazine best known for its China Rich List, a ranking of China's wealthiest individuals.