What comes to mind when people think of the world’s richest countries? And what do people think of when they think of the world’s smallest countries? several people would be astonished to learn that several of the world’s wealthiest countries are also among the smallest.
What are the Top Ten Most Richest Countries in the World?
1. Ireland
Scenic view of Gap of Dunloe, County Kerry, Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland, a country of only 5 million people, was one of the hardest hit by the 2008 financial crisis. Following politically challenging reform measures such as severe salary cutbacks in the public sector and banking industry reorganization, the island nation regained fiscal health, increased employment rates, and saw its per capita GDP grow rapidly.
However, context is critical. Ireland is one of the world’s major corporate tax havens, benefiting multinational corporations significantly more than the typical Irish citizen. Many prominent US corporations, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Pfizer, relocated their fiscal residence to Ireland in the mid-2010s to take advantage of the country’s low corporate tax rate of 12.5%, one of the lowest in the industrialized world.
According to Central Statistics Office data, these multinational corporations accounted for around 56% of total value added to the Irish economy in 2022, up from 53% in 2021. Nonetheless, Ireland intends to harmonize its minimal company tax rate in 2024 with the global benchmark of 15%.
Although Irish families are clearly better off than in the past, according to OECD data, national household per-capita disposable income is slightly lower than the overall EU average. With a significant wealth disparity (the top 20% of the population earns about five times as much as the bottom 20%), most Irish citizens would certainly reject the notion that they are not only rich but the richest in the world.
2. Luxembourg
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Aerial cityscape image of old town Luxembourg City skyline during beautiful sunrise.
Luxembourg might be visited for its castles and gorgeous scenery, cultural festivals, or gastronomic delicacies. Or you might simply open an offshore account with one of its banks and never return to the nation. That would be a shame, for a tiny nation of about 650,000 people, located in the center of Europe, has a lot to offer both tourists and citizens. Luxembourg devotes a considerable portion of its income to providing better housing, healthcare, and education to its citizens, who have by far the highest standard of living in the Eurozone.
While the global financial crisis and EU and OECD demands to reduce banking secrecy had little impact on Luxembourg’s economy, the coronavirus pandemic led numerous enterprises to close, costing workers their jobs. However, the country has fared better than most of its European neighbors.
Its economy recovered from a -0.8% growth rate in 2020 to a 5.1% growth rate in 2021. Unfortunately, the recovery did not continue long: the economy grew by just 1.5% in 2022 and is expected to grow by only 1.1% this year due to reduced business and consumer confidence and increased energy and food prices.
Weak economic growth, on the other hand, may not be worth moaning about given that Luxembourg surpassed $100,000 in per capita GDP in 2014 and has never looked back since.
3. Singapore
Bird eyes view of Singapore City skyline in Singapore.
Li Xiting, the founder of the medical equipment manufacturer Mindray, is the richest person in Singapore, with a net worth of $15.6 billion. Robert and Philip Ng, property developers, are second, while Goh Cheng Liang of Wuthelam Holdings, which makes paints and coatings, is third. Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook, who departed the United States in 2011 with 53 million shares of the firm and became a permanent citizen of the island nation, is ranked fourth with assets of approximately $9.6 billion (although he occupied the top slot for many years). Saverin chose it for more than just its metropolitan charms or natural gateways: Singapore is a prosperous fiscal haven where capital gains and dividends are taxed.
But how did Singapore attract so many wealthy people? When the city-state gained independence in 1965, half of its people were illiterate. Singapore, with almost no natural resources, pulled itself up by the bootstraps through hard labor and clever legislation, becoming one of the world’s most business-friendly places.
Singapore is today a booming commerce, manufacturing, and financial powerhouse, with 98% of the adult population literate. Unfortunately, this could not protect it from the pandemic-driven global economic downturn: the economy contracted by 3.9% in 2020, plunging the country into recession for the first time in more than a decade.
Singapore’s economy recovered with 8.8% growth in 2021, but the recession in China, a key trading partner, stalled the rebound. Singapore’s manufacturing sector, which accounts for 21.6% of total GDP, was particularly badly hit by China’s economic troubles, dropping by 6% in the first quarter of 2023. This, in turn, is depressing Singapore’s fortunes, with the country’s economy expected to grow by only 1.5% in 2023.
4. Qatar
Oil prices have been falling since the mid-2010s, despite the latest surge. In 2014, a Qatari citizen’s per-capita GDP was more than $143,222; one year later, it plummeted considerably and remained below $100,000 for the next five years. However, that sum has continuously increased, rising by around $10,000 per year.
Nonetheless, Qatar’s oil, gas, and petrochemical reserves are so vast, and its population is so small (only 3 million), that this marvel of ultramodern architecture, luxury shopping malls, and superb food has managed to remain at the top of the world’s richest nations for the past 20 years.
With only about 12% of the population being Qataris, COVID-19 spread quickly among low-income migrant workers living in packed quarters in the early months of the pandemic. Despite multiple quarantines, curfews, and lockdowns, Qatar has one of the highest rates of positive cases in the area.
Nonetheless, the economy has shown to be tenacious. It contracted by a very moderate 3.5% in 2020, grew by around 1.5% in 2021, and will expand by 4.2% in 2022 as a result of increased petrol and oil income and tourists visiting for the World Cup.
5. Macao SAR
Panorama viewpoint urban landscape twilight night traffic in Macau
Only a few years ago, many people predicted that Asia’s Las Vegas would soon become the richest country on the planet. Formerly a Portuguese Empire territory, the gambling sector was liberalized in 2001, and this People’s Republic of China special administrative province has seen its income expand at an incredible rate. This little peninsula immediately south of Hong Kong became a money-making machine, with a population of around 700,000 and more than 40 casinos distributed throughout a region of around 30 square kilometers.
That is, until the machine began to lose money rather than make it. When Covid struck, worldwide travel came to a halt, and Macao briefly dropped out of the top ten richest countries list. Today, more than three years after the pandemic began, Macao is gradually returning to normalcy. However, it is the only country on the list whose per-capita purchasing power is lower than it was before the global health emergency—it was around $125,000 in 2019 and is now down by more than $35,000 today.
6. United Arab Emirates
Skyscrapers in Dubai in a summer day
Agriculture, fishing, and pearl commerce were once the foundations of this Persian Gulf nation’s economy. Then, in the 1950s, oil was discovered, and everything changed. Today, the extremely cosmopolitan population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) enjoys enormous riches. Traditional Islamic architecture coexists alongside opulent retail malls, and workers come from all over the world, drawn by tax-free wages and year-round sunshine; just around 20% of the population was born in the country.
The UAE’s economy is getting more diverse as well. Tourism, construction, trade, and banking are key industries in addition to the traditionally prominent hydrocarbon sector. This is not to suggest that the pandemic and subsequent drop in oil prices had no influence on the UAE: quite the reverse. As incredible as it may sound, the UAE briefly dropped out of the IMF’s list of the world’s richest countries for the first time in decades. However, fossil fuels have not gone out of style: as soon as energy prices recovered, the UAE quickly reclaimed its historic position among the world’s top ten richest countries.
7. Switzerland
Swiss flag waving and tourists admire the peaks of Monch and Jungfrau mountains on a Mannlichen viewpoint, Bernese Oberland Switzerland
Switzerland is responsible for many notable innovations, including white chocolate, the bobsleigh, the Swiss Army knife, the computer mouse, the immersion blender, velcro, and LSD. This 8.7 million-person country derives a large portion of its riches from banking and insurance services, tourism, and the export of pharmaceuticals, diamonds, precious metals, precision instruments (think watches), and machinery (medical apparatuses and computers).
According to Credit Suisse’s 2022 Global Wealth Report, Switzerland once again came out on top in terms of mean average wealth per adult, with a whopping $700,000. Furthermore, one out of every six adults holds assets worth more than one million US dollars.
Unfortunately, all of this generosity was unable to protect the Swiss economy from the effects of COVID-19: output fell by 2.5% in 2020. However, things could have been much worse. Growth suffered less than in other nations as a result of a quick policy reaction (emergency expenditure and containment measures) and the economy’s composition, which includes a low reliance on contact-intensive sectors, competitive export industries, and healthy public and household finances.
Does this imply that the Swiss have no economic concerns? Not quite. Credit Suisse was on the verge of collapse in March before a government-engineered bailout by its long-time rival, UBS Group. The demise of Credit Suisse has not only jolted the country but also harmed Switzerland’s reputation as a secure and reputable global financial center, putting even more jobs in jeopardy than the 9,000 already lost in a restructuring plan last year.
8. Norway
Aurora borealis over Hamnoy in Norway
Norway’s economic engine has been driven by oil since the late 1960s when huge offshore reserves were discovered. As Western Europe’s leading producer of petroleum, the country has benefited from rising prices for decades.
Until it didn’t: prices collapsed at the start of 2020, followed by a global pandemic—and the krone plummeted. Norwegian GDP declined by 6.3% in the second quarter of that year, the largest drop in half a century and probably since World War Two.
Is this to say that Norwegians grew much poorer after the pandemic? Definitely not. Following the initial shock, the economy steadily recovered and ended the year with a -1.2% GDP growth. The economy then recovered in 2021, expanding by over 3.9% overall and around 3.3% in 2022.
Norwegians may always rely on its $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, in the event of an unexpected economic disaster. However, unlike many other rich countries, Norway’s high per capita GDP estimates are a pretty accurate reflection of the typical person’s economic well-being, and the country has one of the world’s smallest income inequality gaps.
9. United States
Wall street sign in New York city financial economy and business district with America national flag background. Stock market trade and exchange zone.
Did we mention that the richest countries are also the smallest? That is not the case, of course, with the United States, which joined the top ten list for the first time in 2020 after lingering just around the tenth place for the better part of the previous two decades.
Falling energy prices and pandemic-driven state expenditure have contributed to America’s admission and continued representation in the top ten. Falling oil prices drove petroleum-based economies such as Qatar, Norway, and the United Arab Emirates down many positions, while Brunei dropped out of the top ten altogether.
Meanwhile, the government’s emergency expenditure on stimulus checks enhanced food stamp payments and expanded Medicaid enrollment greatly raising aggregate demand. As a result, the United States experienced its shortest recession on record, lasting barely two months, in early 2020.
Fortunately, the American labor market has rebounded since the beginning of the pandemic, despite the fact that the biggest inflation rate in 40 years has eaten away at workers’ salaries.
10. San Marino
San Marino city view. Fortress on the rock. San Marino landmark. Italy.
Tiny San Marino is Europe’s oldest republic and the world’s fifth-smallest country. It has only 34,000 citizens, but they are among the wealthiest in the world. Income tax rates are exceptionally low, roughly one-third of the EU average. San Marino, however, is attempting to align its fiscal rules and regulations with those of the European Union (EU) and worldwide norms.
The little country showed extraordinary resilience during and after the pandemic, despite tight monetary conditions and the energy crisis, with its tourist and manufacturing sectors performing particularly well.
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
Categories: News
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
