top 10 Richest Countries in the World in 2021
10. Brunei Darussalam
Current International Dollars: 65,675 | Click To View GDP & Economic Data
1,788 rooms, including 257 bathrooms, a banquet hall that can accommodate up to 5,000 guests, a mosque for 1,500 people, an air-conditioned stable for 200 polo ponies, 5 pools and 18 elevators: this is where Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei, lives and gets his habitual $20,000 haircut. His fortune—derived from the immense reserves of oil and natural gas of the country—is estimated at about $28 billion, more than 50 times that of Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
Yet, it is not all roses in the sultanate, and not just because Bolkiah is no longer the wealthiest monarch in the world, a title he held for many years (Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn is about $15 billion richer). Despite the monarch’s opulence, and an on-paper per-capita purchasing power of over $60,000, malnutrition in Brunei is commonplace. Although data is scarce, it has been estimated that 40% of its 450,000-strong population earn less than $1,000 a year. Luckily, the country was spared the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic with only a few hundred recorded cases. What it was not spared from was the pandemic-related plunge in oil prices: after registering a 13-year high of 3.9% economic growth in 2019, the GDP fell in 2020 to 1.2%. Then again: as oil prices started bouncing back in 2021, so did Brunei’s economy.
9. Macao SAR
Current International Dollars: 67,475
Just until a couple of years ago, many were betting that the Las Vegas of Asia was on its way to becoming the richest nation in the world. Instead, Covid struck, global traveling came to a halt and Macao briefly slipped out of the IMF’s top 10 ranking. Not only that, Macao is also the only country in the list whose per-capita purchasing power is lower than it was before the start of the pandemic.
Yet, while things are not what they used to be, with tourists from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan now allowed into the island hotel bookings are on the rise.
Formerly a colony of the Portuguese Empire, since the gaming industry was liberalized in 2001 this special administrative region of the People's Republic of China has seen its wealth growing at an astounding pace. With a population just over 600,000, and more than 40 casinos spread over a territory of about 30 square kilometers, this narrow peninsula just south of Hong Kong remains—almost literally—a money-making machine.
8. United States
Current International Dollars: 69,375 | Click To View GDP & Economic Data
Did we say that the richest countries are also the smallest? That is not the case, of course, of the United States, which during a very difficult 2020 still managed to climb to the top 10 of the list after teetering on its edges for the best part of the last two decades.
But did Americans truly get richer during the pandemic? It depends on whom you ask. Certainly, not those who lost their jobs and businesses, who found themselves with astronomical medical bills and other expenses to pay, lined up at food banks. However, those in top in quintile of the population and earning over $60,000 a year managed in many cases to keep working from home, saw their stock investments grow in value, and received stimulus checks on top of that.
Yet another story is how the super-rich fared during the health crisis. Between March 2020 and April 2021, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, the collective wealth of American’s 719 billionaires leapt by $1.62 trillion, or 55%, from $2.95 trillion to $4.56 trillion. They now hold over four times more wealth than the roughly 165 million Americans in society’s bottom half. In 1990, the think tank says, the situation was reversed—billionaires were worth $240 billion and the bottom 50% had $380 billion in combined wealth.
Yet another story is how the super-rich fared during the health crisis. Between March 2020 and October 2021, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, the collective wealth of American’s 745 billionaires leaped by $2.1 trillion, or 70%, from $2.95 trillion to over $5 trillion. Their wealth is now two-thirds more than the $3 trillion in wealth held by the roughly 165 million Americans in society’s bottom half. In 1990, the think tank says, the situation was reversed—billionaires were worth $240 billion and the bottom 50% had $380 billion in combined wealth.
In other words, if you are an American and your income is a fraction of the average GDP per capita, it is fair to argue that someone else is probably eating your proverbial lunch.
7. Norway
Current International Dollars: 69,859 | Click To View GDP & Economic Data
Since the discovery of large offshore reserves in the late 1960s, Norway’s economic engine has been fueled by oil. As western Europe’s top petroleum producer, the country has benefitted for decades from rising prices.
Until it didn’t: prices crashed at the beginning of 2020, then the global pandemic ensued—and the krone was sent in freefall. In the second quarter of that year, the Norwegian fell by 6.3 %, the biggest decline in half a century and possibly since World War Two.
Does it mean that Norwegians have become significantly less wealthy than they were before the pandemic? Certainly not. After the initial shock, the economy gradually pared the losses and closed the year at -0.7%. Then, in 2021, it regained much of the ground lost during the previous months, growing overall by about 3%.
Furthermore, when it comes to any economic problem fate might throw at them, Norwegians can always count on their $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest. Yet Norwegians know that with great wealth comes great responsibility: unlike many other rich nations, high per capita GDP figures are truly a reflection of people’s financial wellbeing since Norway has amongst the lowest income inequality gaps in the world.
6. United Arab Emirates
Current International Dollars: 74,245 | Click To View GDP & Economic Data
Agriculture, fishing and trading pearls: these used to be the economic mainstays of this Persian Gulf nation. Then oil was discovered in the 1950s and everything changed. Today, its highly cosmopolitan population enjoy considerable wealth, traditional Islamic architecture mixes with glitzy shopping centers, and workers come from all over the world lured by tax-free salaries and year-round sunshine (to the extent that only about 20% of the people living in the country are actually locally-born).
The United Arab Emirates’ economy is also becoming increasingly diversified. Outside the traditionally dominant hydrocarbon sector, tourism and construction, as well as trade and finance, are major industries. This is not to say that the Emirates were not impacted by the pandemic: the country, in fact, briefly slipped out of the IMF ranking of the richest countries globally for the first time in decades. Its comeback is due in large part to recovery in prices of crude oil. Back is also—until March 2022—the biggest event the city has ever hosted, the World Expo, which was postponed in 2020 due to you know what.
5. Switzerland
Current International Dollars: 78,112 | Click To View GDP & Economic Data
White chocolate, the bobsleigh and—of course—the Swiss Army knife. But also the computer mouse, the immersion blender, velcro and LSD. The list just goes and on: these are only some of the inventions that Switzerland has contributed to the world. Today, however, this country of about 8.6 million owes much its wealth to banking and insurance services and to tourism, as well as to exports such as pharmaceuticals products, gems and precious metals, precision instruments and machineries (from watches, to medical apparatuses and computers).
Is it really a surprise that Switzerland has the highest density of millionaires in the world? According to the latest Global Wealth Report by Credit Suisse, 14.9% of the adult population owns assets worth more than one million U.S. dollars.
All this money, however, could not shield the Swiss economy from the effects of Covid-19: in 2020 production declined by 2.5%. Yet, things could also have been worse, especially when we consider that in the neighboring Italy, Spain, France and Germany the contraction amounted respectively to 8.8%, 10.8%, 7.9% and 4.5%.
To what do we owe the difference? According to the IMF, to a swift and sustained policy response through emergency spending and containment measures, but also to the make-up of the Swiss economy itself, with its solid public and household finances, competitive export industries, and low dependency on contact-intensive sectors.
4. Qatar
Current International Dollars: 100,037 | Click To View GDP & Economic Data
It’s not only the oversupply and demand crisis of last year and the exacerbating effect of COVID-19: despite the recent recovery, oil prices have suffered from a steady and sometimes dramatic decline since the mid-2010s. The per-capita GDP of a Qatari citizen was over $143,222 in 2014, it was “just” $97,846 a year later, and to this day it remains barely above that level.
Still, the country’s oil, gas and petrochemical reserves are so large, and its population so small—just 2.8 million—that this marvel of ultramodern architecture, luxury shopping malls and fine cuisine has managed to top the list of the world's richest nations for 20 years.
Yet, with only about 12% of the residents being Qatari nationals, in the initial months of the pandemic the country—similarly to many other Gulf states—saw COVID-19 spreading especially among low-income migrant workers living in crowded quarters at furious speed. Quarantines, curfews and lockdowns have been imposed more than once, yet Qatar suffered one of the highest rates of positive cases in the region.
Even so, the economy has shown a certain resilience (it contracted by a relatively modest 3.5% in 2020 and has grown roughly 2% in 2021 and is now projected to rebound amid a rise in gas production and investment in preparation for the 2022 World Cup.
3. Singapore
Current International Dollars: 107,677 | Click To View GDP & Economic Data
With an estimated net-worth of $23 billion, restaurateur Zhang Yong is the richest person living in Singapore; the 93-year-old Goh Cheng Liang, the founder of one the world’s largest paint manufacture, is a close second with his $21.7 billion fortune. In third place with assets of about $15 billion (to some people's surprise) is Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook, who in 2011 left the U.S. with 53 million shares of the company and became a permanent resident of the island nation. Saverin did not choose it just for its urban attractions or natural gateways: Singapore is an affluent fiscal haven where capital gains and dividends are tax-free.
But how did Singapore become so prosperous? When the city-state became independent in 1965, one-half of its population was illiterate. With virtually no natural resources, Singapore pulled itself up by its bootstraps through hard work and smart policy, becoming one of the most business-friendly places in the world. Today, Singapore is a thriving trade, manufacturing and financial hub (most importantly, 98% of the adult population is now literate). That is not as saying that it has been immune from the effects of the global downturn: in 2020 the economy plummeted a record 5.4%, knocking the country into recession for the first time in more than a decade.
2. Ireland
Current International Dollars: 111,360 | Click To View GDP & Economic Data
Until recently, Ireland seemed unstoppable. While the rest of Europe was facing all sort of uncertainties (Brexit, trade tensions with the U.S., refugee and migrant crises to name a few), the Irish economy was humming along. In 2019, when the Eurozone grew only 1.5%, Ireland's economy expanded by over 4.9%, the fastest-growing country on the continent. It would only be normal to think the Covid changed that, right? But Ireland defied all expectations once again: its GDP, according to the IMF, grew by 5.8% in 2020, and by more than twice that—meaning an astounding 13%—in 2021..
A nation of just 5 million inhabitants, Ireland was one of the hardest hit by the 2008 financial crisis. Following some politically difficult reform measures like deep cuts to public-sector wages and restructuring its banking industry, the island nation regained its fiscal health, boosted its employment rates and saw its per capita GDP almost double in a short amount of time.
Do citizens feel twice as rich as a decade ago? Probably not: Ireland is one of the world's largest corporate tax havens, with ordinary people benefitting far less than multinationals do. And while they are undoubtedly better off than they used to be, according to data from the OECD the national household per-capita disposable income is actually lower than the overall member countries’ average, about $25,300 a year versus $33,600. Furthermore, with the planned withdrawal of government pandemic supports leaving around 100,000 more people jobless than before the pandemic, the country’s unemployment rate is expected to climb to 8.1% from its current 5.8%. With a considerable gap between the richest and poorest (the top 20% of the population earns almost five times as much as the bottom 20%) most families would balk at the idea that they are wealthy.
1. Luxembourg
Current International Dollars: 126,569 | Click To View GDP & Economic Data
You can visit Luxembourg for its castles and beautiful countryside, its cultural festivals or gastronomic specialties. Or you could just set up an offshore account through one of its banks and never set foot again, as many do. It would a pity though: situated at the very heart of Europe, this nation of about 630,000 has plenty to offer, both to its tourists and its citizens. Luxembourg uses a large share of its wealth to deliver better housing, healthcare and education to its people, who by far enjoy the highest standard of living in the Eurozone.
Yet, while both the global financial crisis and the pressure from the EU and OECD to reduce banking secrecy have had little impact on the economy, the coronavirus outbreak forced many businesses to close and workers to lose their jobs.
Still, through effective testing and contact tracing measures, in 2020 Luxembourg has weathered the pandemic better than most of its European neighbors. As a result, propelled also by the rollout of the vaccine, in 2021 the grand duchy's GDP rebounded by 5.5% from -1.3% in 2020. The country topped the $100,000 mark in per capita GDP in 2014 and has never looked back ever since. Even Covid could not change that.
source:
https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/richest-countries-in-the-world
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