Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group, was ranked as the third richest Chinese on the?Hurun Global Rich List 2015 released in February, with?an asset of $24.5 billion. [Photo/IC]

The Chinese mainland has been ranked fifth among the countries and regions with the biggest number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), people with a net worth of over $30 million, according to a global real estate consultancy.

A report released on March 5 by Knight Frank shows that population of UHNWIs in Chinese mainland reached 8,366, following US' 50,767, Japan's 16,703, UK's 13,176 and Germany's 11,679 by 2014.

Among the mainland cities, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen contributed the most to the billionaire population.

The rank of Chinese mainland is expected to rise to the third with the number increasing to 15,681 by 2024, the report forecast.

The increased middle-class spending and investment power in developing economies, like China has a direct impact on the potential for the creation of entrepreneurial UHNWIs, who can benefit from the rising appetite for everything from consumer goods to financial services, said the report.

There is room for more education and financial deepening in China, and the country should continue to catch up in terms of productivity, said Gabriel Sterne, Head of Global Macro Investor Services at Oxford Economics, in the wealth report.