Richest Countries in the World 2013

Money makes the world go round is a saying we often hear these days. It’s all about the money. Who has more money and who has less money is all that one cares for these days. And why should we not? We live in an age where prices of every commodity, big or small, are increasing faster than we can say its name. Some examples of these are petrol, diesel, vegetables, etc. So it indeed is a necessity, more than a desire for every country to get rich. In this case, some countries are naturally gifted with resources that make them a rich country while a few others have had to work their way to the top. When a country is rich, it doesn’t have to worry about budget deficits, loans, borrowings, its federal reserve etc. When such an environment exists in a country, its economy tends to function better and bring in more profits and development. Similarly, such an environment is conducive for the general lifestyle of the people, and they also get further motivated to perform better in their tasks. But only the monetary factor is not enough to make a country rich. It should have a good social welfare system, it should preserve its natural resources, it should create the best of facilities for its citizens etc. While calculating the world’s richest countries, we take into account the GDP or the gross domestic product of the country. This gives us a correct insight into its economy. The following are the top 10 richest countries in the world –

10. Kuwait

Kuwait is an Arab country in the western region of Asia. It is one of the world’s leading oil producing countries. Kuwait is the world’s fifth largest oil producing country. Apart from the fact that it holds the key to something that has more worth than gold, i.e. oil, its economy is thriving on the very fact that the country has a monarchy system of governance. Its rich monarchs provide the country with all the necessary funds and money. This makes sure that the economic conditions of the country are always favorable, regardless of the world’s economic conditions. The current GDP of Kuwait is $43,846.72.

9.  Switzerland

Home to the world’s richest bank, which is The Swiss Bank, Switzerland, is also one of the world’s richest countries. This is mainly due to its extremely efficient banking system. Along with it, Geneva in Switzerland is home to some of the world’s biggest agencies’ headquarters. This greatly impacts the policy-making of the Swiss government and makes sure that its citizens are given utmost importance. Apart from these, its liberal taxation policies have ensured that the county’s GDP is on the rise, despite of the European economic crisis. The current GDP of Switzerland is $45,285.8 and it is expected to rise by $54,000 by 2018.

8. United Arab Emirates

If we jump back a few decades, we would see that United Arab Emirates was basically a desert mass with no great development or productivity. And then suddenly, it witnessed a boom after all the oil reserves were found in the country. Like Kuwait, UAE profits greatly from the monarchy that rules over it. With the development of cities like Dubai and Sharjah, the UAE has seen a growth in incoming tourists which has also helped the country greatly. The current GDP of the United Arab Emirates is $48,992.47.

7. The United States of America

The world’s largest economy is also one of the world’s richest economies. With its IT boom in the past few decades, USA has set many milestones in the field. It is considered as a global super-power and since the fall of the USSR, the US has always had the upper-hand in what goes on around the world. The American products that are many times manufactured in Asian countries, have a huge consumer markets as people always want to buy things of American quality which is synonymous of world-class quality. The purchase of good greatly profits America and its national treasury. Although it has seen an economic crisis recently, the US is doing all it can to recover from it. The current GDP of the United States of America is $49,820.15.

6. Brunei Darussalam

Brunei Darussalam is better known as just Brunei. This small nation in the south-east region of Asia is located off the north coast of the island of Borneo. This sovereign nation is a sultanate and is mostly dominated my Muslim population. It is extremely wealthy due to its natural resources which are replete with petroleum and natural gas fields. Its exports of petroleum and oil make for most of its wealth. In 2011, Brunei was one of the two countries which had 0% public debt. Such a feat in today’s world is extremely great. The current GDP of Brunei Darussalam is $50,526.35.

5. Hong Kong

Although many people debate the inclusion of Hong Kong in the list of the richest countries in the world as Hong Kong is only a special administrative region of China, we must include the country due to its contribution in the world economics and politics. Hong Kong is an extremely developed region and it owes all its wealth to the evergrowing finance, trade and commerce. The political conditions of Hong Kong have made it possible to have free trade with it which in turn helps the economy. The current GDP of Hong Kong is $50,708.95

4. Norway

Apart from being one of the safest countries in the world, this land of the rising sun is also one of the richest countries in the world today. It is believed that the government in Norway has designed such a good social welfare system, that it has given rise to a society where every individual is duly paid if he/she does their bit of work with perseverance. Norway also has extensive petroleum, lumber, mining and fisheries reserves which help the economy. Norway holds many accolades when it comes to great and healthy lifestyle of people and it also firmly holds the 4th place in being one of the richest countries of the world. The current GDP of Norway is $55,264.45.

3. Singapore

Singapore is a really small nation state in the south east of Asia. In the recent few years, Singapore has made great developments and changed, and we have seen it slowly become one of the world’s richest countries. The fact that it is such a small nation helps in easy governance of all the activities. The government of Singapore has right tapped all the beneficial fields and made sure that Singapore has a place of its own on the world map. The legal structure of Singapore is extremely strict yet one of the best. The education system in Singapore is also considered one of the best around the word. The current GDP of Singapore is $60,883.33

2. Luxembourg

Luxembourg is a small European country located in between France, Belgium and Germany. The country appears so small on the map that one may actually miss its existence. But when it comes to wealth, it leaves all European giants far behind. It is the most rich country in Europe and it is the second richest country in the world. Due to its small geographical size, the governance becomes easy. But it is a rare known fact that Luxembourg has some of the world’s biggest and richest iron and steel companies, making it very wealthy. It also provides international banking services to the rest of the world, making sure that there is foreign reserve in the country. The current GDP of Luxembourg is a whopping $80,679.06.

1. Qatar

Qatar is a comparatively small nation located in the Middle East region of Asia. It is situated in the Persian Gulf. It has an absolute monarchy and it has been ruled over the years by a single royal family. This small country of Qatar was previously known for pearl-mining but then with the discovery of the importance of oil, Qatar got lucky with its numerous oil, natural gas and petroleum reserves. Its competitively open trade policies with the US have made Qatar the wealthiest nation in the world. The country charges no income tax to its citizens and other taxes are also very minimal. The current GDP of Qatar surpasses all the other countries in the world and is $102,768.69. Thus we can see that the size of the country does not matter when it comes to wealth and that even a small a nation can aspire to be the richest in the world.

Figures and estimates are from the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook Database, April 2013.

2013 Ranking of Coutries from Richest to Poorest, According to Gross Domestic Product Based on Purchasing-Power-Parity (PPP) Per Capita

Click on the column heading to sort the table.

	Country	2013	Estimates Start After
1	Qatar	105,091.42	2011
2	Luxembourg	79,593.91	2011
3	Singapore	61,567.28	2011
4	Norway	56,663.47	2012
5	Brunei Darussalam	55,111.20	2011
6	Hong Kong	53,432.23	2011
7	United States	51,248.21	2011
8	United Arab Emirates	49,883.58	2009
9	Switzerland	46,474.95	2011
10	Australia	44,073.81	2011
11	Canada	43,593.74	2012
12	Austria	43,344.79	2012
13	Ireland	42,806.38	2011
14	Netherlands	42,493.49	2011
15	Sweden	42,037.48	2012
16	Iceland	40,401.63	2011
17	Taiwan	40,392.86	2012
18	Germany	39,993.34	2012
19	Kuwait	39,861.23	2011
20	Denmark	38,521.26	2011
21	Belgium	38,286.44	2012
22	Japan	37,525.38	2012
23	United Kingdom	37,501.70	2010
24	Finland	37,012.46	2011
25	France	35,941.52	2011
26	Korea	33,580.49	2011
27	Israel	33,282.21	2012
28	Saudi Arabia	32,469.34	2010
29	The Bahamas	32,397.94	2008
30	New Zealand	30,803.76	2011
31	Spain	30,620.15	2012
32	Italy	30,094.06	2012
33	Oman	29,924.88	2009
34	Bahrain	29,832.89	2010
35	Slovenia	28,013.94	2011
36	Malta	27,786.99	2008
37	Czech Republic	27,662.99	2010
38	Seychelles	26,168.91	2011
39	Barbados	25,854.24	2010
40	Equatorial Guinea	25,117.18	2010
41	Slovak Republic	24,971.88	2012
42	Greece	23,930.22	2011
43	Portugal	23,185.21	2012
44	Lithuania	22,787.84	2011
45	Estonia	22,731.03	2012
46	Poland	21,005.39	2012
47	Trinidad and Tobago	20,746.28	2010
48	Hungary	19,998.05	2011
49	Chile	19,474.74	2009
50	Latvia	19,384.91	2012
51	Argentina	18,709.31	2010
52	Russia	18,670.53	2012
53	Antigua and Barbuda	18,625.96	2009
54	Croatia	18,066.82	2010
55	Malaysia	17,775.70	2012
56	Botswana	17,595.63	2008
57	Gabon	17,586.34	0
58	Panama	16,993.82	2010
59	Uruguay	16,728.30	2005
60	St. Kitts and Nevis	16,495.30	2003
61	Mauritius	16,350.47	2011
62	Belarus	16,307.68	2010
63	Lebanon	16,126.73	2007
64	Mexico	15,931.75	2012
65	Turkey	15,578.38	2011
66	Bulgaria	14,870.19	2012
67	Kazakhstan	14,750.46	2012
68	Dominica

There are two standard methods of measuring the wealth of countries and how rich or poor its inhabitants are. The measure most often used is Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which represents the size of a country's economy. A refinement of this is per-capita GDP, which is a measure of the average welfare and affluence, or poverty, of residents of a country. However, GDP and per-capita GDP are less useful when comparing economies across national boundaries - which one must do to determine the richest or poorest countries in the world - because GDP is expressed in a country's local currency.

The measure that most economists prefer, therefore, is GDP (PPP) ["GDP based on purchasing power parity"] per capita. GDP (PPP) per capita compares generalized differences in living standards on the whole between nations because PPP takes into account the relative cost of living and the inflation rates of countries, rather than using just exchange rates, which may distort the real differences in income. The indicator measures GDP converted to a common set of prices in a common currency (international dollars, also called Geary-Khamis dollars) so that real quantity comparisons can be made both between countries and over time.

In 2013, wealth continues to be highly concentrated in a few Gulf states, Europe and North America. With a per-capita GDP (PPP) of over 105 thousand dollars, Qatar dominates the ranking. Luxembourg comes a distant second with close to 80 thousand dollars and Singapore third with just more than 61 thousand dollars. The drop of per-capita GDP from the top of the ranking to almost all other countries is precipitous. Norway, which comes fourth with nearly 57 thousand dollars, has a per-capita GDP (PPP) that's almost half that of Qatar.

Poverty remains extensive throughout the world, particularly in South Asia and Africa. In fact, Africa dominates the bottom of the ranking, occupying 9 of the last ten spots. The Democratic Republic of Congo is last with a per-capita GDP (PPP) of less than 400 dollars. Zimbabwe, Burundi and Liberia come just before it. The first non-African country to be found among the world's poorest nations is Afghanistan, with just over a thousand dollars.

GDP is not a perfect measure to describe the wellbeing and quality of life of populations, and there are other indexes that take into account other variables such as life expectancy, income distribution, literacy, etc. - for example, the UN Human Development Index and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare. In fact, GDP is often considered imperfect even to measure overall economic strength. (See the report released in 2009 by a commission chaired by Nobel Prize-winning economists Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz and Professor Amartya Sen, and by Professor Jean-Paul Fitoussi. Download PDF and "Beyond GDP" from the European Commission). Still, when taken with PPP, it is a useful tool for comparing economies across national boundaries.




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