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The chart shows the scatter of the billionaires' net worth per country (y-axis), as a function of the country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product, x-axis) (both axis are shown in log scale). The billionaires' wealth is strongly correlated to the country's GDP (r = 0.95, R² = 0.91) Notwithstanding, there is no relationship worth mentioning between the country's billionaire wealth and the GDP per capita (r = 0.06, R² = 0.004).
In other words, a wealthy economy can breed wealthy individuals. It is no surprise that the USA, China and Germany have the wealthiest group of billionaires. However, the average economic condition of people, as measured by GDP per capita, has no bearing on the relative weight of the billionaires' wealth. Low GDP per capita countries such as India, Mexico or Brazil, exceed in billionaires' wealth the per capita affluent Sweden or Switzerland. Which is another way of saying that in 'poor countries' like the former, the bunch of billionaires cut a disproportionate slice of the national GDP cake for themselves, thus deepening the inequality chasm.
| Nation | Number of billionaires | Net Worth Total |
GDP ¹ | Population 2018 |
GDP per capita ² | Billionaire net worth as percent of GDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ($US current billion) | ($US current billion) | (million) | ($US current) | |||
| Algeria | 1 | 4.0 | 196.035 | 42.6 | 3,917 | 2.04% |
| Angola | 1 | 2.6 | 103.228 | 25.0 | 3,309 | 2.52% |
| Argentina | 9 | 15.6 | 445.227 | 43.2 | 12,440 | 3.50% |
| Australia | 43 | 117.9 | 1,343.181 | 24.8 | 49,755 | 8.78% |
| Austria | 8 | 43.4 | 419.081 | 8.7 | 44,758 | 10.36% |
| Belgium | 2 | 8.3 | 515.557 | 11.3 | 41,271 | 1.61% |
| Brazil | 42 | 176.4 | 2,248.106 | 208.2 | 8,650 | 7.85% |
| Canada | 46 | 148.5 | 1,822.736 | 36.9 | 42,183 | 8.15% |
| Chile | 11 | 41.9 | 268.998 | 18.4 | 13,793 | 15.58% |
| China | 373 | 1,120.4 | 9,504.208 | 1,422.1 | 8,123 | 11.79% |
| Colombia | 3 | 18.6 | 366.159 | 51.3 | 5,806 | 5.08% |
| Cyprus | 7 | 17.6 | 24.226 | 1.2 | 23,541 | 72.65% |
| Czech Republic | 6 | 30.1 | 231.340 | 10.9 | 18,484 | 13.01% |
| Denmark | 10 | 43.7 | 347.520 | 5.7 | 53,579 | 12.57% |
| Egypt | 6 | 18.2 | 260.694 | 88.6 | 3,478 | 6.98% |
| Finland | 6 | 13.5 | 251.815 | 5.5 | 43,401 | 5.36% |
| France | 40 | 320.4 | 2,810.525 | 66.0 | 36,857 | 11.40% |
| Georgia | 1 | 4.6 | 15.190 | 4.2 | 3,866 | 30.28% |
| Germany | 123 | 578.7 | 3,781.699 | 82.2 | 42,161 | 15.30% |
| Greece | 4 | 9.6 | 244.481 | 11.1 | 17,891 | 3.93% |
| Guernsey | 1 | 2.3 | 2.742 | 0.067 | 41,232 | 83.88% |
| Hong Kong | 67 | 334.7 | 269.812 | 7.5 | 43,741 | 124.05% |
| Hungary | 1 | 1.1 | 147.183 | 9.8 | 12,820 | 0.75% |
| Iceland | 1 | 2.0 | 16.249 | 0.3 | 59,765 | 12.31% |
| India | 119 | 440.1 | 2,464.933 | 1,325.6 | 1,710 | 17.85% |
| Indonesia | 20 | 72.5 | 1,037.688 | 264.1 | 3,570 | 6.99% |
| Ireland | 9 | 38.2 | 332.361 | 4.9 | 64,175 | 11.49% |
| Israel | 20 | 57.0 | 287.808 | 8.3 | 37,181 | 19.80% |
| Italy | 43 | 170.4 | 2,083.323 | 61.3 | 30,661 | 8.18% |
| Japan | 35 | 138.1 | 6,047.894 | 126.1 | 38,901 | 2.28% |
| Kazakhstan | 5 | 14.4 | 188.309 | 17.2 | 7,715 | 7.65% |
| Kuwait | 4 | 5.2 | 142.857 | 3.9 | 27,359 | 3.64% |
| Lebanon | 7 | 13.3 | 42.911 | 5.0 | 8,257 | 30.99% |
| Liechtenstein | 1 | 3.9 | 6.672 | 0.038 | 174,381 | 58.45% |
| Macau | 1 | 1.4 | 31.921 | 0.6 | 74,017 | 4.39% |
| Malaysia | 14 | 61.8 | 344.052 | 32.0 | 9,508 | 17.96% |
| Mexico | 16 | 141.0 | 1,238.151 | 129.3 | 8,209 | 11.39% |
| Monaco | 4 | 6.9 | 6.006 | 0.039 | 153,128 | 114.89% |
| Morocco | 2 | 3.8 | 114.784 | 35.2 | 2,893 | 3.31% |
| Nepal | 1 | 1.5 | 19.857 | 29.4 | 729 | 7.55% |
| Netherlands | 9 | 35.5 | 890.136 | 17.0 | 45,638 | 3.99% |
| New Zealand | 2 | 12.2 | 172.900 | 4.7 | 39,412 | 7.06% |
| Nigeria | 3 | 20.9 | 456.775 | 199.2 | 2,176 | 4.58% |
| Norway | 15 | 39.1 | 472.766 | 5.3 | 70,868 | 8.27% |
| Oman | 2 | 5.4 | 66.293 | 4.4 | 14,982 | 8.15% |
| Peru | 6 | 10.9 | 193.484 | 32.3 | 6,049 | 5.63% |
| Philippines | 12 | 55.3 | 284.477 | 106.9 | 2,951 | 19.44% |
| Poland | 6 | 13.8 | 572.056 | 38.2 | 12,414 | 2.41% |
| Portugal | 1 | 5.1 | 231.562 | 10.6 | 19,838 | 2.20% |
| Qatar | 2 | 2.8 | 170.663 | 2.5 | 59,324 | 1.64% |
| Romania | 1 | 1.2 | 198.283 | 21.4 | 9,523 | 0.61% |
| Russia | 101 | 409.3 | 1,654.434 | 140.9 | 8,748 | 24.74% |
| Singapore | 22 | 64.5 | 294.947 | 5.9 | 52,962 | 21.87% |
| Slovakia | 1 | 1.3 | 104.679 | 5.5 | 16,530 | 1.24% |
| South Africa | 5 | 20.9 | 419.499 | 54.5 | 5,275 | 4.98% |
| South Korea | 44 | 126.8 | 1,304.659 | 50.4 | 27,539 | 9.72% |
| Spain | 29 | 136.0 | 1,464.509 | 47.6 | 26,616 | 9.29% |
| St. Kitts and Nevis | 3 | 4.2 | 0.858 | 0.057 | 16,597 | 489.31% |
| Swaziland | 1 | 4.3 | 5.246 | 1.3 | 2,770 | 81.96% |
| Sweden | 32 | 124.6 | 560.387 | 9.9 | 51,845 | 22.23% |
| Switzerland | 36 | 123.8 | 642.090 | 8.5 | 79,888 | 19.28% |
| Taiwan | 35 | 84.4 | 571.500 | 23.5 | 24,310 | 14.77% |
| Tanzania | 1 | 1.5 | 46.776 | 57.1 | 878 | 3.21% |
| Thailand | 30 | 93.3 | 406.424 | 67.7 | 5,911 | 22.96% |
| Turkey | 36 | 64.7 | 1,122.475 | 78.9 | 10,863 | 5.76% |
| Ukraine | 7 | 13.2 | 124.000 | 43.8 | 2,906 | 10.65% |
| United Arab Emirates | 7 | 24.0 | 378.796 | 10.2 | 40,864 | 6.34% |
| United Kingdom | 54 | 202.9 | 2,753.793 | 64.9 | 41,981 | 7.37% |
| United States | 585 | 3,096.7 | 18,624.475 | 332.8 | 52,364 | 16.63% |
| Venezuela | 2 | 5.5 | 215.300 | 32.6 | 6,607 | 2.55% |
| Vietnam | 4 | 10.5 | 164.105 | 95.7 | 1,735 | 6.40% |
| Zimbabwe | 1 | 1.4 | 14.819 | 16.3 | 918 | 9.45% |
| Total | 2,208 | 9,059.6 | ||||
| r = 0.95 (Coefficient of correlation Net Worth-GDP). R² = 0.91 (Coefficient of determination Net Worth-GDP). r = 0.06 (Coefficient of correlation Net Worth-GDP per capita). R² = 0.004 (Coefficient of determination Net Worth-GDP per capita). | ||||||
| ¹ GDP in current US dollars, most recent World Bank estimates for 2016. Data for Guernsey, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Taiwan and Venezuela, not available in World Bank, is extracted from CIA World Factbook. ² GDP per capita in current US dollars, most recent World Bank estimates for 2016. GDP per capita would be slightly different if we divide 2016 GDP by 2018 Population values. | ||||||
Sources: Forbes List of Billionaires, United Nations Population Division, The World Bank-DataBank, CIA - The World Factbook.
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