Fast growth of economy fuels rise in wealthiest

China is closing in on having 1 million millionaires.

According to an annual wealth report released on Tuesday, the mainland has 960,000 millionaires with personal wealth of 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) or more.

That is up 9.7 percent year-on-year, said the GroupM Knowledge - Hurun Wealth Report 2011.

Rising property prices and a fast-growing GDP have been the key drivers for the rising number of Chinese millionaires, according to the report.

It found that 55 percent of Chinese millionaires derived their wealth from private businesses, and 20 percent are property speculators who have ridden the fast hike in home prices. About 15 percent are stock gurus, while the remaining 10 percent are high-earning salaried executives.

This is the third year of the report, written by publishing and events institute Hurun Report in cooperation with think tank GroupM Knowledge.

In 2009 there were 825,000 such millionaires while last year the number had grown to 875,000.

Housing prices rose across the country by 13.7 percent in 2010 according to government statistics, with luxury property prices rising even faster.

High-end property prices in China's leading financial metropolis Shanghai, for instance, grew 21 percent last year, according to figures from UK-based Knight Frank, one of the world's largest commercial and residential estate agents.

Despite the Chinese government's efforts to curb property speculation and control rampant housing prices, "the overall confidence of China's millionaires in the property sector and China's overall economy remains very high," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report.