Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 6 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
General News    H2'ed 10/23/14

List of the World's Richest Countries; America's Special Role in It

By       (Page 1 of 4 pages)   6 comments


The world's richest countries are the ones where the median wealth per person is the highest. This system ranks nations truly according to the most-representative person in each given nation -- the person who is in the exact middle of that nation's population in terms of per-person wealth. Consequently, for example, if a Bill Gates or other billionaire relocates into a certain country, no matter how small its population is, this won't change that country's ranking, whereas it could raise the country's ranking if the ranking-system were according to the mean wealth per person (i.e., dividing everybody's total wealth by the total population-number). If a billionaire moves into a town where the median person's wealth is $100,000, then that town's mean wealth can increase by a huge multiple, but the town's median wealth would remain unchanged by the addition of that new resident. (Similarly, if the billionaire moved away, the town's per-person wealth wouldn't be affected by it.) To rank countries according to mean wealth would enable a country with only relatively few wealthy people to rank very high as a 'wealthy' nation, even if the vast majority of people there live in poverty and squalor. Only by using median wealth as the indicator of a country's wealth can a ranking system produce rankings that reflect the vast majority of people in each of the ranked nations. It's the only fair international ranking-system for the various nations' wealth: it shows the wealth of the typical person in each country.

The most authoritative calculation of per-capita wealth within nations has been performed by the team of world-respected specialists on such matters, who produce the annual Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook. The latest edition was just now published, their Global Wealth Databook 2014. Following is the rank-order of the richest 33 countries, the only nations (other than a few tiny places such as Andora and Monaco, which aren't even calculated there) that can reasonably be called "First World," rather than simply "developing" or "outright poor." This is not to say that such a nation as China, which has a median per-person wealth of only $7,033, or Brazil, with $4,772, or Russia with $2,360, or India with $1,006, might not become major economic powers; but the average person in such nations is extremely poor by current First-World standards; and what will be listed below is that First World, as of today, not ten or twenty years from now.

The rank-order on this list is according to median wealth. Then there is a dot, followed by a second number, which represents the given nation's ranking in Credit Suisse's 2013 list. There is considerable change among the rankings from year-to-year, and some of this change results from methodological refinements, but there can also be real wealth-changes occurring, such as when the 2008 crash destroyed the values of people's houses, more in some countries than others, and of their retirement accounts. Then, in the listing below, comes the nation's name, followed by the median per-capita wealth there. Then comes a slash (/) followed by the mean per-capita wealth there. The mean per-capita wealth is always higher than the median per-capita wealth, because, even if there were total equality in wealth, the mean would be identical to the median; the mean can never be less than the median; it's always more than the median.

The higher the ratio is of the mean/median, the more heavily skewed that nation's wealth-distribution is. The lowest such ratio on this list is Slovenia, $33,395/$21,855, or 1.53. Malta's is 1.71. Belgium's is 1.75. Italy's is 1.84. Luxembourg's is 1.98. Spain's is 1.99. All others are above 2. The highest wealth-inequality is found in U.S., 6.60; Denmark, 6.57; and Switzerland, 5.71. However, Denmark is one of the most-equal countries in terms of annual incomes. The U.S. is the only country that is extremely skewed in terms of both wealth and income. What's shown below relates only to wealth; not at all to income.

Here is the list:

1.8. Iceland $104,109 / $234,785

2.2. Luxembourg $93,267 / $184,228

3.7. Japan $92,236 / $191,877

4.3. Belgium $84,526 / $147,824

5.6. UK $76,958 / $162,999

6.5. Italy $65,140/ $119,773

7.1 Australia $54,426 / $103,151.

8.22. Taiwan $48,635 / $107,028

9.14. Netherlands $46,020 / $106,872

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3  |  4

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Valuable 3   News 2   Must Read 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Eric Zuesse Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of  They're Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010,  and of  CHRIST'S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that (more...)
 
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact EditorContact Editor
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

First Examination of Malaysian MH-17 Cockpit Photo Shows Ukraine Government Shot that Plane Down

Indications that the U.S. Is Planning a Nuclear Attack Against Russia

Harry Reid Effectively Kills Obama's TPP and TTIP International Trade Deals

UPDATED -- Conclusive: 2 Ukrainian Government Fighter-Jets Shot Down that Malaysian Airliner.

MH-17 'Investigation': Secret August 8th Agreement Seeps Out

The Propaganda War About Ukraine: How Important It Really Is

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend