Why the Wealthy and Great Fortunes Are Leaving France

Behind the gilded moldings of Parisian townhouses, beyond the Haussmann façades and the discreet meeting rooms of private banks, a subtle shift is underway. No grand declarations, no dramatic exits, just the measured execution of carefully engineered wealth strategies. Quietly, year after year, a segment of France’s most affluent households is slipping away. It is less an outcry than a whisper, yet it is a whisper carrying a significant cost.

Why the Wealthy and Great Fortunes Are Leaving France

Why the Wealthy and Great Fortunes Are Leaving France

The Numbers Behind the Departure : Discreet Elegance, Real Cost

In 2025, nearly 800 millionaires are expected to leave France, a statistical whisper compared with the country’s 2.9 million millionaire households.

Yet behind this quiet movement lies a striking figure :

$4.4 billion in financial assets slipping beyond French borders.

Sophisticated portfolios, industrial holdings, multi-generational family funds, capital that will no longer fuel French companies, no longer generate local value,no longer contribute to the national tax base. And when the families concerned hold over $100 million in assets, the impact deepens:their departure can shift entire economic ecosystems.

Their New Horizon : A Global Geography of Refinement and Gentle Taxation

France’s great fortunes are not fleeing. They are choosing, elsewhere, a lifestyle and fiscal environmentthat elevate the freedom of managing substantial wealth.

1. Dubai & Abu Dhabi : The New Global Center of Great Fortunes

• Zero income tax

• Ultra-competitive corporate regimes

• A premium real estate market

• An international hub connecting Europe and Asia

Dubai now hosts one of the fastest-growing millionaire populations in the world—a natural magnet for French fortunes seeking fiscal efficiency.

2. Switzerland & Monaco : The Eternal Classics

• Exceptional political stability

• Negotiable tax arrangements (Swiss lump-sum regime)

• High banking confidentiality

• Cultural and geographic proximity to France

Some major French families have lived there for generations.The movement continues—quiet, steady, assured.

3. The New Fiscal Riviera : Italy, Portugal, Greece

• Italy: €100,000 flat tax on foreign income

• Greece: highly attractive fixed-tax regime for new residents

• Portugal: despite changes to NHR, inheritance and gift taxes remain favorable

Three countries combining sunshine, premium real estate, and agile taxation.A compelling cocktail for global entrepreneurs, affluent retirees, and mobile executives.

4. Other Select Destinations

• United States: for tech investments and private equity opportunities

• Mauritius: for families seeking stability with a tropical lifestyle

• Morocco: appealing to Franco-Maghreb entrepreneurs and those seeking an elevated yet accessible way of life

Why Are They Leaving ?

One Word : Stability. A Luxury in Short Supply.

Great fortunes do not abandon France on a whim. They leave uncertainty.

They are fleeing uncertainty :

• The potential reinstatement of an expanded wealth tax

• Recurring debates over the taxation of “non-productive” assets

• The proposal of a 2% minimum levy on fortunes above €100 million

• Fiscal reversals that can shift with every change of government

When one builds strategies over 20, 30, or even 40 years, family holdings, succession plans, foundations, transgenerational investments, instability becomes a cost that even the greatest fortunes cannot absorb. In the face of such uncertainty, other countries offer a striking contrast: a fiscal landscape of remarkable simplicity, clear, fixed, predictable. A tax system that does not sway with political winds, but aligns seamlessly with the long-term logic of global wealth management.

A Measured Exodus, Yet a Powerful Signal

France is not losing its wealth ; it is losing its momentum, the most agile, international, and forward-moving segment of its capital base, the one that invests, builds, and transmits. A departure is not an abandonment. It is a strategic choice, often as aesthetic as it is economic : the choice of a clearer framework, greater visibility, and fiscal serenity.

In the global competition for financial elites, stability has become the ultimate luxury.A nation’s attractiveness now depends less on its legacy than on its ability to offer a predictable horizon.