The Chinese wealth market remains resilient, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is driving the growth of the affluent population on the Chinese mainland, according to a new study.

London-based data and analytics company GlobalData predicts that by the end of 2021, this population, including mass affluent investors holding liquid assets of $50,000–$1 million and high net worth (HNW) individuals with liquid assets of more than $1 million, is expected to grow by 9 percent, to reach 58.2 million.

According to the company's wealth market analytics, the number of affluent individuals recorded an average annual growth of 9.3 percent between 2016 and 2020, rising from 36.6 million to 53.5 million. China is now home to the largest affluent population in Asia and the second largest globally, with only the United States lying ahead.

As the first country to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, China was expected to take a hit in its retail savings and investments markets last year. The report said the strong growth in financial assets enjoyed by China's affluent population in recent years had suffered a slight dip in early 2020, as early pandemic control orders bit into economic activity, compounded by the trade dispute with the US which caused additional disruption.

Ravi Sharma, lead banking and payments analyst at GlobalData, said: "While China was affected by COVID-19 initially, the country was among the few countries which have been able to suppress the virus to a large extent.

"With negligible infections, a relatively early restart of domestic economic activity, stimulus deployed by the government coupled with increased manufacturing sector for export, China was able to a sustain a marked rebound in its overall saving and investments market in the second half of 2020," he added.

China was the only major economy that recorded positive 2.3 percent year-on-year growth last year, and that has supported robust growth in its affluent population not seen anywhere else in the world over the same period, the report said.

The study indicated China's wealth resilience was aided by its deposits in retail investment markets, a common enough feature of developing markets and one that has shielded many from the loss of wealth suffered by equity investors elsewhere.

However, GlobalData anticipates a slight shift among Chinese investors away from deposits and towards equities and mutual funds once the pandemic subsides completely.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index recovered from the losses incurred early last year, with the stock market index registering 13.9 percent growth in 2020, fuelling an appetite for riskier assets among investors from Chinese mainland, which is likely to support a rosy growth forecast this year, according to the report.

Sharma said: "2021 is expected to be a strong year for the investors including the affluent Chinese. Even though China began its recovery earlier than the rest of the world, its economy and financial markets will continue to expand, supported by its recent modest financial liberalization which increases foreign access to its capital markets."