The economic and financial crisis of the last 18 months has transformed the global map of the world’s wealthiest people, with Europe nudging out North America as the richest region, according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group.

BCG's said that global wealth fell 11.7% to $92.4 trillion in 2008 - the first decline since 2001. North America saw the biggest decline in wealth, falling by 21.8% last year. The big drop was partly put down to the large percentage of wealth held by Americans in equities.