After dipping in 2011, total wealth in Singapore rose 8.7 per cent over the past year to reach US$1.1 trillion (S$1.37 trillion) by mid-2013, private bank Credit Suisse has said in its latest Global Wealth Report.

Most of the rise was due to Singaporeans' high savings rate and asset price increases.

Average wealth per adult also increased, by 6.8 per cent over the past year to US$282,000 (S$351,998). This makes Singapore the second wealthiest nation in Asia Pacific in terms of average wealth per adult, after Australia.

The report defines wealth as the value of financial assets plus real assets - mainly real estate - minus household debt.

There were 174,000 millionaires here by the middle of this year, a rise of 11.5 per cent from the same time last year, and this is forecast to further increase by 35 per cent in the next five years to 235,000 in 2018, Credit Suisse added.

"Total household assets in Singapore in mid-2013 are divided evenly into financial assets and non-financial assets, reflecting the government's strong encouragement for both saving and home ownership," the bank said.

And while there has been a lot of concern recently about rising household debt here, Credit Suisse said debt levels are in fact on par with those seen in other developed markets.

"Although it has grown fairly quickly in recent years, the average debt of US$54,500 (S$68,027) per adult is moderate for a high wealth country, at just 16 per cent of total assets, within the range of 15 to 20 per cent of developed economies."