- Australia ranked #2 in median wealth ($261,800)
- Australia ranked #5 in average wealth ($546,200)
There is no doubt that many Australians are suffering currently because of high interest rates and the cost of living, but their wealth has kept increasing due to the increasing value of their homes, property investments, and superannuation funds.
While Europe, the Middle East, and Africa achieved the strongest wealth growth, the U.S. accelerated at roughly half the rate of these regions, at 2.5% annually.
From a regional perspective, average wealth in 2023 breaks down as follows:
- Europe, the Middle East, and Africa: $166,000 per adult
- Asia Pacific: $156,000 per adult
- Americas: $146,000 per adult
This graphic shows the top 10 countries by average and median wealth, based on data from UBS.
Highest Average Wealth per Person, by Country
Average wealth is a country’s total wealth divided by the adult population.
These figures can be skewed by extremely high or low values, such as wealth held by billionaires.
Below, we show the countries with the highest average wealth per person in 2023 across a dataset of 56 countries, covering approximately 92.2% of the global population:
| Rank | Country | Average Wealth per Adult |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | $709,612 |
| 2 | Luxembourg | $607,524 |
| 3 | Hong Kong SAR | $582,000 |
| 4 | United States | $564,862 |
| 5 | Australia | $546,184 |
| 6 | Denmark | $448,802 |
| 7 | New Zealand | $408,231 |
| 8 | Singapore | $397,708 |
| 9 | Norway | $382,575 |
| 10 | Canada | $375,800 |
As we can see, many of the most affluent nations are small countries with thriving financial sectors, including Luxembourg and Singapore.
These countries benefit from significant foreign direct investment and pro-business policies, which help spur economic wealth.
In Singapore, capital gains and dividend income are tax-free.
Highest Median Wealth per Person, by Country
If we are to look at a more representative measure of wealth distribution, through median wealth, it tells a different story.
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Median wealth is the value that divides a population’s total wealth in half, with half of the population having more and half having less.
It represents the “middle of the pack.”
As the table below shows, median wealth per adult is much lower than average figures across many countries, highlighting wealth gaps across populations.
In Switzerland, it is four times smaller, while median wealth is nearly five times lower in the United States:
| Rank | Country | Median Wealth per Adult |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | $372,258 |
| 2 | 🇦🇺 Australia | $261,805 |
| 3 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | $256,185 |
| 4 | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR | $206,859 |
| 5 | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | $202,525 |
| 6 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | $193,669 |
| 7 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | $171,035 |
| 8 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | $163,515 |
| 9 | 🇳🇴 Norway | $152,233 |
| 10 | 🇨🇦 Canada | $142,587 |
By this measure, Luxembourg sits at the top, a country with the highest density of millionaires in the world.
Roughly 16% of the population are millionaires, compared to the 1.5% average across the 56 countries analyzed.
Additionally, there are no billionaires in Luxembourg, standing at a population of just 653,000 people.
Moreover, Australia and Belgium rose up the ranks, with Belgium seeing a particularly small gap between average and median wealth.
Part of this is attributed to high real estate ownership in Belgium, where 10% of the population owns more than one home.
Guest Author: Kayla Zhu, a data driven writer who loves to tell stories with numbers in graphic design. This article originally appeared on Visual Capitalist. You can read the original article here.
