You are probably richer than half the world’s population
June 14, 2007Reading the Healthcare Economist, I came across an article from the Economist that discusses the world’s wealth distribution. While the global income distribution has been debated frequently, no one ever attempted to measure the wealth distribution because the underlying data was (and is) somewhat patchy.
The first study was now undertaken by the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) and is supposed to give further insights into the distribution of financial assets, real estate, consumer durables and livestock (!) around the world in 2000.
Unsurprisingly, the world’s wealthiest can be found in the States, Europe and Japan while Asia-Pacific, India and Africa dominate the poorest deciles. In numbers, you are deemed to belong to the richer 50% of the world if your financial assets amount to at least US$2,161 or (currently) just over £1,000. With assets worth more than US$514,512 you already belong to the top 1% of the wealthiest people in the world.
As with any global information, these numbers are of limited applicability to the UK or even US because our higher living standards accordingly require higher expenses than the average African family can expect. Nevertheless, these figures should be a gentle reminder that a little can go a long way in developing countries and that the £20 you won’t miss can make an enormous difference somewhere else..
