The 50 richest countries in the world (한국이 일본을 한참 앞서고 있네!)

 

The 50 richest countries in the world

The world's richest nations are no longer as surprising as they were 20 years ago. They are the countries that are usually also considered global financial centers and attract numerous companies with low tax rates. This money, combined with small populations, generates large per capita revenues that the vast majority of countries can never match.

Our ranking shows the top 50 richest countries - measured by gross domestic product per capita and adjusted by the purchasing power in the respective country.

Ranking 9th, the USA is the only country with a large surface area and population among the highest-ranking nations.

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Rank                        Country                                                                                      Adjusted GDP/capita

1	Luxembourg	134,754 $
2	Singapore	116,486 $
3	Ireland	106,456 $
4	Qatar	93,521 $
5	Bermuda	85,192 $
6	Norway	79,201 $
7	Switzerland	77,324 $
8	Macao	73,802 $
9	United States	69,288 $
10	Brunei	66,620 $
11	Hong Kong	65,973 $
12	Denmark	64,651 $
13	Netherlands	63,767 $
14	Sweden	59,324 $
15	Belgium	58,931 $
16	Austria	58,427 $
17	Germany	57,928 $
18	Iceland	57,646 $
19	Australia	55,807 $
20	Finland	55,007 $
21	Canada	52,085 $
22	France	50,729 $
23	United Kingdom	49,675 $
24	Saudi Arabia	49,551 $
25	Malta	47,714 $
26	South Korea	46,918 $
27	New Zealand	46,420 $
28	Italy	45,936 $
29	Bahrain	45,411 $
30	Czechia	44,261 $
31	Israel	43,722 $
32	Slovenia	43,625 $
33	Japan	42,940 $
34	Lithuania	42,665 $
35	Estonia	42,192 $
36	Spain	40,775 $
37	Poland	37,503 $
38	Hungary	36,753 $
39	Portugal	35,888 $
40	Romania	35,414 $
41	Latvia	34,469 $
42	Bahamas	34,108 $
43	Croatia	33,801 $
44	Russia	33,361 $
45	Slovakia	33,010 $
46	Panama	31,680 $
47	Cyprus	31,509 $
48	Greece	31,295 $
49	Turkey	30,472 $
50	Oman	30,422 $

Income and purchasing power

Earned capital is a figure measured and published annually by the vast majority of countries. It is the gross domestic product, the sum of all domestically generated income. If you convert this income to the number of inhabitants, you get a value that is hardly comparable. This is because income is certainly not measurable over various countries if the money cannot be used to buy the same things.

An income can therefore only be compared if the price structure in the respective countries is taken into account. A rented apartment for $500 per month may be normal in many countries, but in a poor developing country you can get half a palace for the same money, and in a rich country like Singapore at best a sparse little room. If we now adjust incomes for purchasing power, we obtain an internationally comparable fictitious currency: the PPP dollar. PPP stands for Purchasing Power Parity.

The calculations in this table are based on data for the year 2021. Evaluations for 2022 are expected as usual next spring, when the economic data have been collected and published.

 

Wealth in small countries

It is not surprising that so many small countries are in the top ranks. The top 20 richest countries include 14 countries with fewer than 10 million inhabitants. Most of the small countries are not internationally positioned industrial nations, but generate most of their money from financial products. Qatar and the Arab Emirates sit on huge oil reserves. In Europe, Luxembourg and Ireland are known for providing a safe and tax-efficient home for global players such as Amazon, Apple, Google and many others. Many of the countries ranked highly here are also considered tax havens.

At the same time, many small states are much less expensive to supply to the population because transport routes or cables are quickly laid. Providing a country like Luxembourg with nationwide high-speed Internet is a completely different undertaking than in the US or Australia.

From this point of view, the good rating of the USA (9th place) is surprising, but Germany (17th place) and Australia (19) are also well placed.

Macau, Las Vegas of the East

Macau, however, is an exception. There is no oil and financial products are not a focus of the economy. The country consists of two small islands that together are just half the size of Manhattan. Instead, dozens of casinos are spread out here, making many times the revenue of Las Vegas. Since gambling is banned in China and Hong Kong, some 3 million tourists flock to the small country.... monthly.

In 2020, the gross domestic product in Macau dropped drastically. Due to the travel restrictions introduced by Covid19, hardly any tourists came to the country. Of the previous USD 55.20 billion, only USD 25.59 billion remained in 2020.