Special Report

Richest Countries in the World

While global poverty is declining faster than ever before, the distribution of wealth around the world is far from even. North America is home to less than 5% of the global population and accounts for about 27% of the world’s gross domestic product. Meanwhile, South Asia is home to 24% of the world population and accounts for less than 4% of global GDP.

While gross domestic product provides an accurate picture of the size of a nation’s economy, gross national income, or GNI, is a more precise measure of the financial well-being of a country’s citizens. GNI includes GDP as well as the net income generated by a country’s residents earned outside of national borders. If an entrepreneur from France owns a factory in Germany, for example, the factory’s profits would be included in France’s GNI, but not its GDP. Similarly, profits of foreign-owned companies within France would be excluded from the French GNI.

To identify the richest countries in the world, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed GNI per capita for 131 countries and special administrative regions with data from the World Bank.

Click here to see the full list of the 25 richest countries in the world.
Click here to see our detailed findings and methodology.

Sponsored: Find a Qualified Financial Advisor

Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to 3 fiduciary financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests. If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.