The US is frequently assumed to be the richest country in the world. But that is not the truth. According to CIA World Factbook the richest country in the world per capita (meaning the value an average person produces) is.....
Luxembourg! Here is the top ten list -
I'm not so sure Ireland is still on that list. I would have thought Dubai would be there, but maybe they included slaves and indentured servants in the wage equation.
Mame doesn't look Ugandan to me, must be the hair and makeup.
Singapore has the busiest port in the world and is the 4th largest foreign exchange trading center in the world. Singapore is widely believed to be the most business-friendly economy in the world.
Of course - the stats I gave used per capita - so if you have a smaller country it compensates for that - compare the US to Luxembourg huge difference in size.
And of course income isn't wealth unless you take away expenditure and debt. And don't get me started on 'quality of life' and wealth distribution imbalances. But here an interesting measure that a blogger has pulled from the CNBC site (source:
Quote:
Deficit spending, government debt and private sector borrowing are the norm in most western countries, but due in part to the global financial crisis, some nations and economies are in considerably worse debt positions than others.
External debt is a measure of a nation's foreign liabilities, capital plus interest that a country must eventually pay. This number not only includes government debt, but also debt owed by the private sector and individuals.
So, how does the US debt position compare to that of other countries?
A useful measure of a country's debt position is by comparing gross external debt to GDP, which offers a direct relation of a country's total debt to the size of its economy. In this report, all countries are among the world's 50 largest economies, and are ranked by current external debt as a percentage of 2008 GDP.
Who are the world's biggest debtor nations?
The rankings may surprise you!
1. Ireland - 811%
External debt (as % of GDP): 811%
External debt per capita: $549,819
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