Who are the UK wealthy? 

Who are the wealthiest people in the UK? 

Despite worldwide data collection efforts, our understanding of those at top of the wealth distribution is still significantly lacking.

This research project brings to light previously neglected data on the wealthiest 1000 households in the UK from archives of The Sunday Times Rich List from 1989 to today.

Working Paper 1: Finding fortunes: A selection model for unbiased estimation of tail distributions in (wealth) survey data

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This paper links the Sunday Times Rich List to the Wealth and Assets Survey. It also designs a new methodology for correcting survey data. Collecting data on household wealth or income using surveys is challenging because affluent households are less likely to respond to surveys, leading to biased samples. This paper introduces a new method called Differential Response Maximum Likelihood (DRML) to estimate the tail of the wealth distribution while accounting for unit non- response. We compare the results to alternative estimates using rich list data and WID estimates. Using a Monte Carlo simulation, we show that DRML tackles the bias from differential non-response bias. We then apply DRML to the UK’s Wealth and Asset Survey (2008-2020) find that up to £1,150 billion is missing due to non-response bias within the top 1%.

Working Paper 2: Using Rich Lists to Study the Super-Rich and Top Wealth Inequality: Insights from the UK

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We construct a new longitudinal dataset from the Sunday Times Rich List (STRL) covering 1989–2025, harmonising names, wealth estimates, gender, source-of-wealth classifications, and imputing tax residency for the richest households and dynasties in the United Kingdom. We document three descriptive facts about the UK super-rich. First, rich-list entries mix individuals, couples, and dynastic families; around 35–50% of entries are explicitly recorded as families, and among non-family entries the population is over- whelmingly male. Second, the wealth share held by individuals likely to be non-UK tax residents rises sharply from the late 1980s to a peak around the early 2010s, before declining again by 2025; the increase is considerably larger in wealth than in headcount. Third, the sectoral origins of top wealth shift over time, with a persistent dominance of investments and real estate, rising importance of pharmaceuticals/biotechnology, and declining representation of food/tobacco-related fortunes.

Policy Report 1: The good life at the top: analysing The Sunday Times Rich List 1989-2023

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Each spring, The Sunday Times Rich List (STRL) is published, inviting us as a country to reflect on the question of wealth inequality. When the STRL was first published in 1989, The Queen sat at the top of the list. Today, The King has been pushed down to 263rd place, as business owners, aristocrats, celebrities, and others have accumulated vast and unimaginable fortunes. In this short report, we present six key findings from a new research project analysing the STRL. The report utilises a novel dataset that has been constructed from archives of the rich list from 1989 to 2023. This dataset provides a unique opportunity to analyse the wealth of the very richest households, who tend to not be captured by other existing data sources.

Policy Report 2: The good life at the top continued: analysing the Sunday Times Rich List 1989-2024

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In this short report, we present four key findings from a research project analysing the Sunday Times Rich List. The report utilises a novel dataset that has been constructed from archives of the rich list from 1989 to 2024. This dataset provides a unique opportunity to analyse the wealth of the very richest households, who tend to not be captured by other existing data sources. This report updates the previous 2023 report

Policy Report 3: National Renewal Tax: how a tax on the super-rich will create a fairer, greener UK

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This report proposes a 2.5% National Renewal Tax on wealth above £10m each year for the rest of Labour’s parliamentary term. This could raise significant revenue to help tackle the climate crisis, allow our wildlife to recover and improve people’s lives. Data from the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List was used in this report. 

Policy Report 4: National Renewal Tax: how a tax on the super-rich will create a fairer, greener UK

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A 2 per cent wealth tax on just the UK residents on the Sunday Times Rich List could have raised over £160 billion for the UK over the past 32 years. A new study on the Sunday Times Rich List has revealed that the UK is missing out on billions of pounds every year without a wealth tax. The report shows that at least £160 billion could have been raised for the UK’s public finances over the past three decades if UK tax residents on the annual rich lists had been asked to pay a two per cent wealth tax on their assets over £10 million - equivalent to the cost of building 80 new hospitals in that period.

For any questions on the dataset please email ben.tippet@kcl.ac.uk. 

We thank the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust for the generous funding for this project. The 3rd Viscount Leverhulme does feature on the rich list between 1989 and 1999. Here is his trajectory of his wealth and rank compared to the average on the rich list.