Here's The One-Word Reason Why The Super-Rich Love Yachts

The world's super-rich spend $22 billion on yachts every year, according to UBS and Wealth-X's annual World Ultra Wealth Report for 2014.

A yacht is the pinnacle of luxury and decadence.

But more so, a personal yacht offers something you can't get with most large vessels: privacy.

Here's more from the report: "For ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals, many luxury items and experiences are part and parcel of their lifestyle and are not necessarily considered a "luxury". For example, UHNW individuals with private jets use their aircraft not only for leisure, but also for business purposes. On the other hand, while yachts, and particularly superyachts, are usually a non-necessity, many UHNW individuals lead very public lives, and the privacy of a family holiday on a yacht is a very special treat."

On average, each of these UHNW individuals, or people with net assets worth $30 million and above, spends about $1.1 million on luxury items every year. Combined, they make up about 19% of the global luxury market.

But their spending on yachts takes a whopping 88% of the luxury market.

The report says that luxury spending is increasingly experiential, meaning that the super rich are spending more money on intangible things like privacy. Private jets also take a chunk of the share of the luxury market for UHNW individuals, at 82.1%.

In September, a Wealth-X report showed that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich owns the world's most expensive yacht called Eclipse. It's a 536-foot long boat with two helipads, a cinema and a restaurant. It is worth $1 billion.

The global population of UHNW individuals is a record 211,275 people. Here's the breakdown of everything else they spend their money on.