Despite Record Poverty, the US Has Made Most Gains in Global Wealth (with Charts!)

by Erika Eichelberger

The United States is the wealthiest country in the world, in terms of GDP. But which country is the richest in terms of median wealth per person? Australia. The median wealth of adults there is $219,505, according to the Credit Suisse 2013 Global Wealth Report, which was released on Wednesday. In the US, the median wealth is only $45,000, compared to an average wealth per person of more than $250,000. Here are some other chart-tastic findings from the report.

Global wealth reached an all-time high of $241 trillion, up about five percent since last year. If all the money in the world were spread out evenly, it would amount to $51,600 per person. And here is a map of what it would look like if countries’ GDP were spread out evenly among their populations.

Global inequality remains high. The richest 10 percent of people in the world hold 86 percent of the world’s wealth—with just 0.7 percent owning 41 percent of global riches. Meanwhile, the bottom half of adults own one percent of the world’s wealth, with more than two thirds of people worth less than $10,000: