Top 10 richest countries of the world
Here is a top 10 list of worlds richest countries according to CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia measured by GDP per capita. For those in the dark - GDP or Gross Domestic Product - is the value of all the goods that a country produces. GDP per capita stands for the value an average person produces.
10. Switzerland - $39,800 (GDP per capita)
This cheese making country is considered to be one of the most neutral countries in the world. During World War 2, people from other European countries deposited their money in the banks of Switzerland, knowing that their money would be safer there than in their home countries. Some well known Swiss companies include Nestle, Logitech, Rolex and Credit Suisse.
9. Equatorial Guinea - $44,100
The Republic of Equatorial Guinea is a country in Central Africa. Most people have never heard of it. This country flew into stardom after 1996 when large oil reserves were found in the nation of only 0,5 million people. While being one of the largest producers of oil in Africa, little has been made to improve the living conditions of the people. Corruption is widespread and ordinary people are mostly living in poverty. The gap between rich and poor is probably the largest in the world.
8. Ireland - $45,600
This member of European Union has been often admired as one of the most modern knowledge economies in the world. Ireland is the largest maker of computer software in the world. A study done by The Economist ranked the Celtic Tiger to have the best quality of life in the world.
7. United States - $46,000
What sets the US apart from most other countries in this list is its size. While most other countries in this list are among the smallest in the world the US has a population of over 300 million and a total land area of 3,79 million square miles (9.83 million sq km). The US is also home to the largest amount of billionaires in the world. It is speculated that as many billionaires live in the US as in the rest of the world.
6. Singapore - $48,900
This country tiny country consist of 63 island and some mainland with a total area of only 270 square miles (704 sq km). With Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan it is considered one of the Four Asian Tigers. Singapore has the busiest port in the world and is the 4th largest foreign exchange trading center in the world. Singapore is widely believed to be the most business-friendly economy in the world.
5. United Arab Emirates - $55,200
This oil and natural gas rich country has a highly developed economy which makes it one of the most developed in the world. Having more money than they know what to do with, they have built numerous artificial islands and are currently building the worlds highest structure - Burj Dubai. When finished it will be 818 meters tall, being about 2 times as high as the Empire State Building in New York. It is estimated that about 1/4th of the total construction going on in the world is taking place in Dubai - the largest city in United Arab Emirates.
4. Kuwait - $55,300
In Arabic Kuwait translates to “Fortress built near water”. In addition to being on the coast of the Persian Gulf this country has well known neighbors like Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Kuwait has the worlds fifth largest proven oil reserves - about 10% of the worlds total. Being a country without taxes, about 80% of the governments revenue comes from exporting oil. Having the the second-most free economy in the Middle East, Kuwait has one of the fastest growing economies in the region. (Thanks to Alsab3a from Stumbleupon for a little tip!)
3. Norway - $55,600
Norway is one of the few highly developed countries in Europe tthat are not part of the European Union. This oil and natural gas rich country has living costs more than 30% higher than in the United States. In 2006 only Russia and Saudi Arabia exported more oil than Norway.
2. Qatar - $75,900
This Arabic speaking country has less than million people and gained independence from Great Britain only in 1971. Qatar used to be a poor Islamic country but since the discovery of oil and natural gas in the 1940s, it is completely transformed. With no income tax it is one of the least taxed countries in the world, while still offering most of its services to the population for free. (Who needs tax when you have all this oil and gas money coming in)
1. Luxembourg - $80,800
This tiny country with a total population of less than 500 000 is a true European miracle. By tiny we mean the 8 smallest country in the world. From top to bottom it’s only about 50 miles and at its widest about 30 miles.
Where does the money come from? Well, there is over 250 banks crammed into the small country! It has the largest banking concentration in the European Union and probably in the world. In addition to being rich the people are smart as well. In elementary school everyone studies in German, starting from middle school they learn in French and in highchool the main language is English. Their own language - Lëtzebuergesch. When picking up a local newspaper be prepared to find articles in all languages.
If your country is on the list and you have an interesting fact about it - let me know in the comments and I will add it to the list!
For more daily tips on the richest of the rich - sign up to my full feed RSS or subscribe via email.
If you liked this post be sure to check out
“Ireland is the biggest maker of computer software in the world”
Ruins the article.
What do you mean?
Anyway, I changed it to largest, if that’s what you had in mind…
hi INDIA is best and largest software producing country in the world…we are proud be a indians…….mind it….
this is the most ridiculous list i’ve ever seen
the usa with 45 million people without medicare is among the poorest nations on the planet, both morally and financially
I agree with you Robert - the US has got to have one of the worse medicare in the planet. I’ve lived most of my life in Europe - and about a year in the US. When it comes to medical aid I’d choose Europe any time!
But speaking financially - Having everyone sign up for a medical insurance is a great way of pumping money into the economy. Too bad that in my opinion people’s health is not something you can play with!
You have no idea what you are talking about and you know nothing about the principals of a capitalist society.
Thanks for clarifying this! You are the smartest and the best and you always know what you are talking about!
This list is based on GDp per capita which is a measurable amount, the fact speak for themselved. So, to call this list ridiculous is like calling the fortune 500 list ridiculous. If it just IS, you cannot call it ridiculous!
GDP per capita is indeed a measurable amount - I haven’t made this list up. If I did, I’d probably put Estonia (that’s where I live) in number 1 spot
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE
Thanks for the comment Baker! I mistakenly assumed that when Dubai is the largest city of UAE, it should also be the capital!
Thanks for letting me know!
i no
Qatar actually kicked in to the #1 spot with approximately $81,200
It actually depends on who’s statistics you believe. According to IMF (International Monetary Fund) Qatar is #1, according to the World Bank and CIA World Factbook - it’s #2.
This list is made from information obtained from the CIA World Factbook.
One thing is sure however - Qatar is rich
What about Vatican City? It’s considered to be its own country. I wonder how much the pope makes?
Vatican has a national income of about 250 million USD/year.
However I think that they hold a majority of their financial assets offshore.
The pope is in a sense the richest person in the world - he can pretty much do whatever he wants for free. He has churches all over the world that in a sense belong to him.
Do my eyes deceive me, or is England not on this list?
If the latter then the CIA World Fact-book need to revaluate their facts -seriously.
Smith, your eyes are not deceiving you - England is not in the list. In fact, there are several lists out there and England is not in the top ten in any of them…
oil account to only a small percentage of UAE overall economy. it is not considered to be oil rich.
this is a surprising list indeed.
What’s so surprising sir jorge?
Luxembourg isnt that rich in reality as on paper though, the reason is that there’s ALOT of people who live in other countries work in Luxembourg, and just drive over the border and work there. As they live in other countries they’re forced to tax to the country they actually live in.
So there’s alot more people contributing to the GDP then there’s actually living there. Reality is if you ytavel there is that it’s a country just like France and nothing else really, your not going to find bus drivers who take in 80.000$ a year. If you go to Norway though, you’ll find that most people actually earn atleast 55.000$. Huge diffrence.
Elin, I have also been to Luxembourg for at least 5 times in the past few years since a member of my family works there for the EU.
I agree, that it is very similar to France but numbers are numbers! Luxembourg is rich
Hay Im 12! But this list makes alot of sence to me. Norway is rich from oil. Yet the gas is 11 dollers a gallon! lolololol!!!
nop Mr steph, you got the wrong information, Am Norwegian and in Norway we buy a liter of gas at 13 kroner, so if its a gallon its 39 kroner which is almost 7 us dollars, to make sure check the prices on the internet..Norway is not an industrialized country, but we have a lot of gas, fish, n some companies which build ships…But with a small population of about 4,7 million people,, Norway is a small country n is not that known…But one of the richest!!
Norway rocks!!!!! Woo Hoo!! Norway!!!!
Why are gas prices that high in norway? Roman, Your smart, Do you no why?
Norway is a country with extremely high salaries. If you look at how much they get paid vs how much they spend for gas then it doesn’t look so bad!
Norway also has extremely high taxes - they make up most of the gas prices!
Hi
in fact the Norwegians made a conscious decision in the 60s to keep domestic energy prices on par with the globally prevailing price level. Thus recognising that whats in the ground is not really @free@ unlike the arabs and latin americans seem to think.
Thanks to this decision, together with ptting a large part of their oil income in reserves, they are not waisting energy and have managed to avoid dutch disease, when the rest of the economy disintegrates because everything goes to the oil sector.
IMHO NOrway is the tru richest country in the world - their national oil fund has over 50t dollars per capita, no budget deficit, no government debt, high and rleatively uniform income for most people, 2% unemployment… When oil and brains meet…
So gas being 11 dollers a gallon in Norway, the people there dont really care about the price? Its also kind of strange concidering their country is one of the countries with the the most oil in Europe!
Yes, its a bit strange that the country with a lot of oil has one of the highest gas prices in Europe.
Another reason why this is happening is that Norway is very keen on saving the environment. High taxes on gas makes it possible to give back to the environment to lessen the effects from pollution which are inevitable when using gas.
Don’t let these people feed u wrong information, we don’t buy a gallon of gas at 11 dollars….check for your self, we buy it at almost 7 dollars, and 11
Thats why Norway is a great country!It cares more about the important stuf! Not bad stuf like blowing up places.
OWERN BUFFET IS THE RICHEST PERSON IN THE WORLD.AND HE IS FROM AMERICA.
lol… those rulers of the arab gulf have way more than your friend buffet..
that no one knows about..
yah! but hows rich if will not happy!!!!!
Hey Roman, I just graduated university with a business degree. I live in vancouver canada. Where can i work to make lots of money. Vancouver doesn’t pay recent grads very well and i want to buy a condo here. the only way to do that is to make money. How can i make a lot of money in a foriegn country and come back home and live modestly without worrying about paying the bills.
George!
It depends what you are good in and what you would like to do with your life!
For instance I like marketing and personal finance so I started this website where I write about things related to money and finance and my plane is to also make some money with ads!
So it pretty much depends on what you set your mind to!
True that!!
Hi
I don’t see many welathy economies in the list .
Britian contributes a lot of money to many third world countries It has got to be wealthy as a member of G8 But it is nowhere in the list. China is emerging as the fastest growing economy and probably the seond wealthiest in GDP But why is china not in the top ten welathy list. I am surprised.And also India is not in the list.
Danial!
In terms of total wealth you are probably correct - Britain, China and India are very rich. That’s because they are large countries with a lot of people.
GDP per capita however measures “how rich a country is” by taking all the money a countries economy produces and divides it by the number of people living in that country. This way you will get a somewhat honest picture how much extra wealth a person living in that country produces.
China and India have a lot of money but when you divide it between more than 1 billion people living in these countries you will not have much left. In fact in the list China is 30 and India 126th. Britain is in the 20th place!
If you would just look how much a country makes without taking into account the amount of people living there China would be the 4th largest economy in the world, UK the 5th and India 12th.
The more people live in a country the greater potential for a larger economy!
nice and straight forward answer!
If I ever get a holiday I am going to Luxembourg and work there in the bank if I could fine a job there. The Bus drivers may not take $80000 home but there may be people taking millions and some may be taking less then 50000. GDP is total income divided by the population.As simple as that.
A member of my family actually works in Luxembourg and I can tell you this - they do indeed get paid really good over there!
Hi,
I am Diana from Sweden but currently I work in Qatar in the education city. It is completely true that Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world. If you come to Qatar, you will see most of Qatari people wear Gucci, Versace and Luis Vuitton wherever you go. Moreover, the place where I live, each house has at least two modern cars and it is normal there. In deed Qatari people are the kindest people I’ve ever seen in my life. They are so helpful. If I had to choose between Sweden and Qatar to spend the rest of my life in, I would choose Qatar.
Nice to get some comments from people actually living in some of the richest countries in the world!
Sorry. I wrote my daughter’s name while she was talking to me.
I really shocked when i saw Luxemberg in the 1st place.It is a great name for that country
Roman, how did you no that India was in 126th! ive been wanting to look at a long orderd list of the richist countries in order since I was 9!
Stephen, for a complete list check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita
I just want to know that how much a person can get hourly in sweden as it is the neighbouring country of norway which is nominated a rich country by you.And also tell me which country is best to live england or sweden? in any way..i,e: more wages,living expenses,studies etc.. Thanks
How much you can make hourly in Sweden is entirely up to what kind of work you are doing and how good you are at it.
According to statistics the average pay in Sweden is about 13 Euros an hour (20 dollars).
If you can’t speak Swedish then England is a better country for you to live - because you already speak English!
People in Sweden generally speak English, but it is very difficult to get a good job if you do not speak Swedish!
I am surprised you didn’t you spoke about Germany in the rich countries…..? I think it is more rich than England….
Yes, Germany is a very rich country but in terms of how much an average person generates wealth it does not make the top 10. It is in the 21st place while England(which was also absent from the list) is number 20.
The problem with Germany is that east Germany which used to be a communist country during the Cold War era is a lot poorer than the west part of the country. That brings their average down a bit.
The link on Norway goes to Luxemburg. You should be shamed of your self
- Norwayman
Lol, thanks for letting me know - It’s fixed now!
Funny that about 50 000 people have read this post and you are the first to notice
hey roman i am still waiting for your reply!!!!
I was on a trip to Moldova and Ukraine and didn’t have too much access to internet over there!
Anyhow I am answering your questions right know!
what about morocco in the richest countries?
It seems that Morocco isn’t really that rich of a country - it is 121st on the list.
i want friend so i will be happy to hear from u again. Thank you.
Thanks i am waiting for you answer.It’s good that there is someone who can provide me some helpful information.Sweden is also a richest country and pay some healthy wages like luxembourg..isn’t it?
You can see my answer to your question under your original comment!
can i have your Email address so that i can speak to you?
I just want to get some assistance from you..
Kind regards
yes i can,t speak swedish but i have to go to sweden for my studies and i also want to do some job with my studies…So now let me know whether i would get any job easily or not?
HEY MAN, WATCHA BEEN BLABBING ABOUT RICHEST COUNTRIES…WITHOUT NIGERIA BEEN ON THE LIST UHHH????
You’re right. Nigeria probably makes a lot of money from scamming people but it is actually the 150th rich country in the world.
In other words - it’s one of the poorest countries!
i dont give a **** adout those countries denmark is more rich then anyone of thise countries and that i sure!