To understand size of the economy and overall wealth, the
most common method used is by calculating GDP. Although it is useful to look at
economic output on an annual basis, there are other important metrics to
consider when estimating the wealth of a nation.
Household wealth statistics reveal which country’s citizens
are accruing the utmost level of money and assets worldwide.
This visual utilizes data from Credit Suisse’s annual Global
Wealth Report to break down the latest estimates for household wealth by
country.
Household Wealth, by Country:
The list below shows how the world’s $463 trillion in
household wealth is distributed:
|
Rank |
Country |
Household Wealth (2022) |
% of World Total |
|
1 |
United States |
$145.8T |
31.5% |
|
2 |
China |
$85.1T |
18.4% |
|
3 |
Japan |
$25.7T |
5.5% |
|
4 |
Germany |
$17.5T |
3.8% |
|
5 |
United Kingdom |
$16.3T |
3.5% |
|
6 |
France |
$16.2T |
3.5% |
|
7 |
India |
$14.2T |
3.1% |
|
8 |
Canada |
$12.4T |
2.7% |
|
9 |
Italy |
$11.5T |
2.5% |
|
10 |
Australia |
$10.6T |
2.3% |
|
11 |
South Korea |
$10.1T |
2.2% |
|
12 |
Spain |
$8.4T |
1.8% |
|
13 |
Taiwan |
$5.9T |
1.3% |
|
14 |
Netherlands |
$5.4T |
1.2% |
|
15 |
Switzerland |
$4.9T |
1.1% |
|
|
Rest of World |
$73.6T |
15.6% |
|
|
Total: |
$463.6T |
100.0% |
As the table above establishes, global household wealth is
far from being distributed equally.
Wealth Concentration on Country-Level:
Most of the global wealth is concentrated in the biggest
economies, with households in the United States and China joining to make up half
of all personal wealth in the world. This is to some extent different from
using GDP as a measure, where China and the United States make up 19% and 24%
of the world economy in nominal terms, respectively.
Today, just 10 countries account for 75% of total household
wealth.
One of the major changes in recent years is the rise of
wealth in China. China’s citizens were estimated to hold just 9% of the world’s
wealth, a decade ago. That figure has now more than doubled, while median
wealth in the country has skyrocketed from $3,111 to $26,752 between 2000 and
2021.
A Look at Household Wealth Regionally:
From a regional position, wealth is equally split three
ways, between North America, Asia, and everywhere else in the world.
In only one decade, Europe’s share of household wealth fell
by eight percentage points, which is due, in part, to the economic momentum of
China.
Surprisingly, the regions of South America, Africa, the
Middle East and Oceania combine only for about 11% of the world’s total
household wealth.
Infographic by: visualcapitalist
