Which Countries Are Really The Richest? [Infographic] (2024)
When countries are ranked for the size of their economies or their overall gross wealth, the U.S. is usually at the top of the list, followed by countries like China, Japan or Germany. But sorting nations for their per-capita average wealth—or even for their median per-capita wealth—other countries win out. Using the first metric, Switzerland is the richest country in the world at an average per-capita wealth of around $685,000, followed by Luxembourg and the United States.
Looking at median per-capita wealth—the wealth of the person that shares their country with an equal number of richer and poorer people—Iceland tops the ranking with around $413,000 in wealth being held by this (imaginary) person.
Per-capita assets already show a more balanced picture of a country’s wealth by acknowledging that smaller countries with fewer citizens will accumulate less wealth. Yet, calculating averages does not take into account how wealth is distributed in a society. Median wealth, on the other hand, increases the more equal a country’s assets are allocated. Iceland and other Scandinavian countries are known for their more equal wealth distribution and data by Credit Suisse reflects this to a degree. Denmark comes in rank 7 and Norway in rank 10 for per-capita median wealth.
The U.S. is the third-wealthiest country on a per-capita average basis, yet Americans are only in rank 15 for median wealth. The situation in Belgium is the other way round: It is listed 13th for average wealth, but third for median wealth, showing that it is a more egalitarian country in terms of wealth distribution.
The role of the 1%
Looking at the size of the gap between mean and median wealth, the U.S. comes in rank 7 with an average wealth more than five times or 512% as high as the median wealth. This is exceeded by no major country in the world except Brazil, where this number stands at 517%. The richest 10% of people in the United States currently own around 70% of its wealth—with the richest 1% owning around half of that. An even bigger effect on the country's wealth inequality might be the poorer half of the U.S. population, which only owns 2% of the country's wealth.
Other than in some European countries, the share of wealth held by the 1% of richest people in the United States started rising again in the 1980s. It had previously been falling in many places as industrial and political revolutions in the 20th century created stronger middle classes and more wealthy citizens. As of the most recent data, those owning $5.8 million belonged to the 1% of the wealthiest U.S. citizens. In Switzerland, this number was even higher at $8.5 million.
Some of the smallest relative gaps between mean and median wealth were registered in the countries topping the median wealth list: Iceland, Luxembourg and Belgium. Other countries which might not have the highest mean wealth rates but do have some of the smallest gaps are Eastern European nations Slovakia and Slovenia. Poorer countries which nevertheless have big gaps between average and median wealth include the aforementioned Brazil as well as South Africa, Russia and Nigeria.
When countries are ranked for the size of their economies or their overall gross wealth, the U.S. is usually at the top of the list, followed by countries like China, Japan or Germany. But sorting nations for their per-capita average wealth—or even for their median per-capita wealth—other countries win out.
Luxembourg is the world's wealthiest country, with a GDP per capita of $143,742 thousand, according to the IMF. This is largely due to its strategic location in central Europe and its strong financial services sector.
The national wealth of the United States is around $98.15T, the U.S. is the richest nation in the history of the world. The national wealth of China is around $51.87T. The U.S. is almost twice as wealthy as China and that's assuming the Chinese numbers are accurate.
The old myth of the superpower US as a rich, modern and efficient economy remains alive, underpinned by a per capita gross domestic product (in 2022) 57 per cent higher than in Germany—still 21 per cent superior after adjusting for the differential effect of exchange rates on purchasing power.
What Is the Poorest Country in the World? Which country is considered the poorest in the world? South Sudan holds this unfortunate title, facing severe poverty amidst ongoing conflicts that have plagued the nation since its inception in 2011.
The pyramid shows that: half of the world's net wealth belongs to the top 1%, top 10% of adults hold 85%, while the bottom 90% hold the remaining 15% of the world's total wealth, top 30% of adults hold 97% of the total wealth.
However, since 2019, Canada has the wealthiest middle class of any country in the world. The most common figure used by researchers and economics professors when comparing middle-class economies across different countries is median annual income, standardized to U.S. dollars.
The number one spot is firmly occupied by New York City. The total wealth held by the Big Apple's residents now exceeds an eye-watering $3 trillion—higher than the total wealth held in most major G20 countries.
Oil, gas, seafood, and products from energy-intensive industry are among our main export commodities. Our sea areas are six times the size of our land area, and our ocean-based industries account for almost 40 % of our total value creation, and 70 % of our exports.
The U.S., China, Germany, Japan, and India are some of the top economies in the world based on gross domestic product (GDP). GDP is an estimate of the total value of finished goods and services produced within a country's borders during a specified period, usually a year.
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