Internationalists fastest growing affluents

In Ipsos’s Affluent Survey 2016, of the 52.2 million most affluent Europeans (the top 13% of income earners) more than 13.6m currently live abroad or fit the Internationalists criteria.

The Internationalists segment has gradually grown within the affluent universe, increasing 21% over the past 10 years. Internationalists now represent more people than the affluent segment of the top five European markets, ahead of Germany ( 10.2m), France ( 7.1m), the UK ( 7m), Italy ( 5.6m) and Spain ( 3.9m).

The report found that Internationalists’ personal income is at least 20% more than the affluent average. They are more likely to own luxury products than the affluent audience as a whole, including designer clothing costing over €1,000 (owned by 18%); briefcase or handbag costing over €500 ( 16%); footwear costing over €500 ( 17%); or jewellery over €1,500 ( 25%).

Almost half ( 46%) of Internationalists say they like to pursue a life of challenge, novelty and change. They are regular travellers with 39% taking six or more return flights in the past year vs. the affluent average of 21%.