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Yacht ownership looks common from the quayside in Monaco or Dubai Harbour. In the data it is anything but. These are the numbers behind the fleet, and the people who own it.
Counting the fleet
The authoritative count comes from SuperYacht Times, published in the Monaco Yacht Show’s 2025 market report. In August 2025 there were 6,174 yachts of 30 metres or more in operation: 5,259 motor yachts and 915 sailing yachts. Almost two thirds are between 30 and 40 metres. About 2,000 are longer than 40 metres.
The fleet grows slowly. Fraser counts 201 deliveries of 30-metre-plus yachts in 2025, with more than 300 scheduled for 2026. BOAT International’s Global Order Book 2026 lists 1,093 yachts of 24 metres or more on order or in build, down for a second year from a 2023 peak of 1,203. The average yacht on order is now 40.8 metres, and growing.
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How rare a superyacht really is
The world’s fleet of yachts over 30 metres, set against the people wealthy enough to run one.
Setting it against the wealthy
Two firms count the ultra-wealthy, people worth $30m or more, and they disagree by a margin worth knowing. Altrata’s World Ultra Wealth Report 2026 counts 556,850. Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2026 counts 713,626. Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2026 puts the world’s millionaires at 25.3 million.
Divide the fleet into those numbers and the rarity becomes plain. There is roughly one superyacht for every 90 people on Altrata’s count, one for every 116 on Knight Frank’s, and one for every 4,100 millionaires. Some owners hold more than one yacht, so the true share of owners is lower still.
On the marketThe Sail, MalaccaMelaka, MalaysiaFrom MYR 724,298See the developmentWhat the surveys say
The last direct survey of ownership is a decade old. In 2016, Wealth-X and Camper & Nicholsons found 4,476 superyacht owners among 211,275 ultra-wealthy individuals: about 2.1%. The ultra-wealthy population has more than doubled since, while the fleet has grown by a fraction of that, so today’s share is unlikely to be higher.
Ownership also concentrates at the top. A yacht of 30 metres costs well into eight figures to buy, and around a tenth of that each year to run. For most people worth $30m it would consume a disproportionate share of liquid wealth. In practice, ownership is likely to sit with the far smaller group worth $100m or more.
Who owns them
Americans dominate. SuperYacht Times data put US owners at 23.6% of yachts over 40 metres in 2023, with Russians a distant second at 8.1%. That tracks the wealth data: Knight Frank puts 35% of the world’s ultra-wealthy in the United States. In 2016 Wealth-X counted the UK, Italy and Australia next in line.
The market itself is healthy. BOATPro recorded 470 sales of 24-metre-plus yachts in 2025, up a fifth on 2024. Fraser counted 360 second-hand sales over 30 metres, with average values up 31%.
Why the rest charter
For most wealthy families, the numbers point to charter rather than ownership. A week aboard a 40-metre yacht in the Mediterranean averages around €98,000 across current listings. That buys the experience with none of the crew contracts, refits or berths. The families who do buy tend to have three things: years of chartering behind them, a home near the water, and a clear plan for how many weeks the yacht will actually be used.
The second of those is where we come in. A home within reach of a marina changes how often a boat is used, whether it is owned or chartered.
