The 10 richest countries in the world … and the 10 most unequal countries

What does it mean if a country is rich?

Although the answer may seem simple, because it would be enough to look at which ones generate more wealth, the truth is that it is not so simple. you can choose several ways, for example, to compare the gross domestic product (GDP), which is essentially the sum of all goods and services produced by an economy in a year.

Simply by size, it is clear that the largest United States and China according to data from the World Bank

Now, if we divide this wealth by the number of inhabitants (which is GDP per capita), the richest are Luxembourg, Switzerland and Macao .

Although all of the above is correct, many economists prefer to examine the economic health of a country, using the "purchasing power parity" per capita, which takes into account the purchasing power of people in a given country. 19659002] "As we are interested in controlling the well-being of individuals, we prefer the use of this indicator," write World Bank economists Christoph Lakner, Espen Beer Prydz and Dean Jolliffe at BBC World. 19659002] In this context, the richest countries are Qatar, Macao and Luxembourg followed by Singapore, Brunei and Kuwait

This list is completed by the United Arab Emirates, Norway, the United States, and the United States. Ireland and Switzerland. ] The 10 richest countries in the world

Purchase power of the inhabitants (in US $)

Qatar

118.207

Macao

97.751

Luxembourg

94.920 [19659012] Singapore [19659015] 81.443

Brunei [19659015] 71.788

Kuwait

68,861

United Arab Emirates

67.133

Norway

64.139

Ireland

63.301 [19659012] Switzerland

57.427

Source: World Bank (purchasing power parity per capita)

With large reserves of petroleum and natural gas, the absolute monarchy from Qatar – which has a border with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf waters Persian has always dominated the wealth ranking in recent years, except in 2013 and 2014, when Macau jumped and took the head to then return to second place.

The economy of Macao (an autonomous region of the south coast of China) strongly depended on the tourism and industry of casinos while the small European country of Luxembourg , anchored its economic development in the management of investment funds ] and an exclusive private bank b that grows with the support of one of the most lax tax regimes of the world. Europe

The 10 Most Unequal

Although it has also been the subject of some criticism, the most common way to measure inequality in the world is the Gini, a measure that ranges from 0 to 1, where 0 equals complete equality

The most unequal countries in the world, according to World Bank figures, are South Africa Haiti and Honduras.

Can follow Colombia, Brazil, Panama, Chile and Rwanda, Costa Rica and Mexico

And Latin America?

Latin America and the Caribbean are the most unequal region in the world. followed by Sub-Saharan Africa

The 10 most unequal countries in the world (Gini index)	(Highest value, most unequal country)
South Africa	0.63 [19659012] Haiti	0.60
Honduras	0.53
Colombia	0.53
Brazil	0.52
Panama	0.51
] Chile	0,50
Rwanda	0,50
Costa Rica	0.49
Mexico	0.49
Source: World Bank "Taking on Inequality "2016.

] And in the ranking of the 10 most unequal, eight are from the region and two are from Africa.

However, World Bank economists point out that at the same time "Latin America" ​​was the region's most successful in shorten gap "between rich and poor in recent years.

A fact that could feed the idea that in the future the trend will indicate a somewhat less unequal distribution of incomes in the region, but which is still subject to socio-political and economic changes.

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