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Ranked: The Richest Countries in the World

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<img src="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/richest-countries-2018.jpg" alt="Ranked: The Richest Countries in the World"

Ranked: The Richest Countries in the World

Since the 2008 financial crisis, global private wealth has been steadily growing.

In fact, overall private wealth worldwide reached $204 trillion in 2018, which is a 26% increase over the past decade.

This week’s chart, which uses numbers from the Global Wealth Migration Review 2019, examines the top 10 richest countries and the growth of private wealth from 2008 to 2018.

RankCountryPrivate Wealth in $USD (2018)10-yr change (%)
#1🇺🇸 United States$60.7 trillion27%
#2🇨🇳 China$23.6 trillion130%
#3🇯🇵 Japan$19.1 trillion18%
#4🇬🇧 United Kingdom$9.1 trillion4%
#5🇩🇪 Germany$8.8 trillion7%
#6🇮🇳 India$8.1 trillion96%
#7🇦🇺 Australia$6.0 trillion48%
#8🇨🇦 Canada$6.0 trillion23%
#9🇫🇷 France$5.9 trillion-7%
#10🇮🇹 Italy$3.8 trillion-14%

Combined, the 10 countries above represent 74% of total private wealth worldwide.

These trends are staying consistent with the numbers seen in 2017. Asian countries such as China and India showed the highest uptick in wealth gains, holding their #2 and #3 spots on the list, while European countries such as France and Italy actually saw a decrease.

Trends in the Wealth Landscape

Over the last 10 years, China has experienced the largest increase in wealth at 130%. This growth also means that China now boasts more high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) than any other country except the United States.

While India doubled its total private wealth over the 10-year period, wealth per adult remains at just 22% of the global average.

The U.S. continues to lead in wealth numbers, holding 30% ($60.7 trillion) of the world’s total private wealth. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. remains home to the most millionaires in the world.

The World’s Millionaires: Top 3 Countries

  • United States: 17,350,000
  • China: 3,480,000
  • Japan: 2,809,000
  • World total: 42,155,000

Source: Credit Suisse

Australia now tops the above list in terms of highest wealth per adult, and it is second in the world only to Switzerland in the context of major nations.

Despite the recent turmoil and uncertainty stemming from Brexit, the United Kingdom still saw overall growth in the past decade, moving from #5 to #4 rank on the list of countries with the highest private wealth.

Projections from New World Wealth estimate that total global wealth will reach $291 trillion by 2028, driven by strong growth in Asia.

Rising Wealth Inequality

Unfortunately, this growth is also linked to the growing problem of wealth inequality gap across the globe, and the gap seems to get bigger every year.

The average global wealth per adult is approximately $27,000 – but of the total adult population, 64% have a net worth of less than $10,000. The bottom half of adults in the world now own less than 1% of all household wealth.

By contrast, 85% of all household wealth is owned by the richest 10%, and the top 1% own almost half (47%) of the world’s household wealth.

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Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation

This graphic illustrates the amount of U.S. currency in circulation globally, by denomination, based on data from the Federal Reserve.

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Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Have you ever wondered how much U.S. currency is in circulation?

Every year, the U.S. Federal Reserve submits a print order for U.S. currency to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). The BEP will then print billions of notes in various denominations, from $1 bills to $100 bills.

In this graphic, we’ve used the latest Federal Reserve data to visualize the approximate number of bills for each denomination globally, as of Dec. 31, 2022.

Breakdown of U.S. Currency in Circulation

The following table lists all of the data we used to create the visualization above. Note that value figures were rounded for simplicity.

Type of BillNumber of notes
in circulation (billions)
Value ($B)
$114.3$14B
$21.5$3B
$53.5$18B
$102.3$23B
$2011.5$230B
$502.5$125B
$10018.5$1,850B
$500-10,000*0.0004n/a

*$500-10,000 bills are listed as a range, and a total circulation of 0.0004 billion. Not included in graphic.

From these numbers, we can see that $100 bills are the most common bill in circulation, even ahead of $1 bills.

One reason for this is $100 bills have a longer lifespan than smaller denominations, due to people using $100 bills less often for transactions. Some businesses may also decline $100 bills as payment.

Based on 2018 estimates from the Federal Reserve, a $100 bill has a lifespan of over 20 years, which is significantly higher than $1 bills (7 years) and $5 bills (5 years).

If you’re interested in more visualizations on the U.S. dollar, consider this animated chart which shows how the dollar overtook the British pound as the world’s most prominent reserve currency.

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