As more wealth is created in the world, more of it is concentrated among the richest people in the richest countries. The combined gross domestic product of countries for which there is data adds up to $116.7 trillion. Nearly $93 trillion of that wealth is concentrated among just 25 countries.

GDP may be the standard method for gauging the size of a particular country or region’s economy, but it does not account for all of the wealth generated by that nation. A more accurate indicator of a country’s economic output is its gross national income, or GNI. This measure captures all economic activity within a nation’s borders in addition to the wealth created by nationally-owned entities operating in other countries.

Using data from the World Bank, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the GNI per capita of nearly 200 nations to identify the 25 richest countries. We also included life expectancy at birth from the World Bank.

The wealthiest 25 countries in the world tend to have complex and diverse economies. Many of these countries export goods and services from a variety of industries such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and aerospace. 

Yet some nations on this list rely almost exclusively on one product to fuel their economies. Some smaller countries that do not have a wide variety of industries still rank among the wealthiest nations in the world because they are among the countries that controls the world’s oil.

The wealthiest countries also tend to be the healthiest. The world average life expectancy at birth is 72.2 years, yet in each of the world’s 25 richest countries, the average life expectancy is at least several years, if not a full decade, longer. Some of the richest nations also rank among the healthiest countries in the world.

Click here to see the richest countries in the world
Click here to read our methodology