OT: Who is really the richest country

[RN7]

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the commonest way used to calculate how rich countries are. GDP is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year, which is calculated as the population times market value of the goods and services produced per person in the country. Nominal GDP estimates of countries GDP is the most widely excepted method used by financial and statistical institutions, which are calculated at market or government official exchange rates. According to statistics released by the IMF, World Bank and the CIA the twenty five largest economies are....

2013 GDP (Millions of US$)
16,965,000. United States
09,470,000. China
05,875,000. Japan
03,715,000. Germany
02,805,000. France
02,525,000. United Kingdom
02,340,000. Brazil
02,115,000. Russia
02,070,000. Italy
01,960,000. India
01,825,000. Canada
01,560,000. Australia
01,360,000. Spain
01,325,000. Mexico
01,305,000. South Korea
00,870,000. Indonesia
00,855,000. Netherlands
00,820,000. Turkey
00,750,000. Saudi Arabia
00,650,000. Switzerland
00,610,000. Argentina
00,560,000. Sweden
00,520,000. Nigeria
00,515,000. Norway
00,515,000. Poland

However a list of countries by their global financial assets; ie the total privately owned assets of residents such as cash, equity, bank deposits, bonds and stocks (excluding tangible assets such as real estate and land) paints a very different picture of the worlds wealth.

2014 Assets (Millions of US$)
60,325,000. United States
14,645,000. Japan
13,180,000. China
07,340,000. United Kingdom
06,440,000. Germany
05,535,000. France
04,870,000. Italy
04,460,000. Canada
03,070,000. Australia
02,545,000. Netherlands
02,350,000. Spain
02,270,000. South Korea
02,240,000. Switzerland
02,230,000. Taiwan
01,415,000. Brazil
01,360,000. Belgium
01,315,000. India
01,300,000. Sweden
01,095,000. Mexico
00,830,000. Denmark
00,675,000. Austria
00,645,000. Israel
00,635,000. Singapore
00,620,000. Russia
00,555,000. South Africa

California is probably richer than China and Japan, and Arkansas is richer than Russia!

[kato13]

How would nationalized industries effect the numbers in the second chart? That could make a large difference.

The fact that Saudi Arabia is not in the second list is stunning unless large swaths of assets are ignored.

[Targan]

Woot! 12th on the list by GDP, 9th by assets. Not bad for a country of only 23 million people.

[RN7]

How would nationalized industries effect the numbers in the second chart? That could make a large difference.

I don't think it would effect it at all because its an accumulative list of what people have in their checking and savings accounts, equity entitlements, stocks and bonds and in a the biscuit tin under the bed. It does exclude private real estate and land ownership who's average value varies a great deal in different countries. But If you also add the value of government land holdings and infrastructure as well as private industry to that (nationalised or not) the accumulative wealth of a nation would obviously increase. I haven't researched the figures and a lot of American real estate and industrial ownership is also outside of the US (in places like China a US company might have a 49% stake in the ownership of a factory), but the value of total government and private wealth of the US could top the 200 trillion dollar mark.

The fact that Saudi Arabia is not in the second list is stunning unless large swaths of assets are ignored.

Again its private not government owned wealth. The Saudi Royal Family and its many minor siblings own a large swathe of Saudi Arabia including its petrochemical wealth and that is probably taken out of the equation and not classed as private. However the average Saudi is not that wealthy, only about 45% as rich as an American. In the Islamic world paying or receiving interest on investment, loans etc is also frowned upon or not allowed. There are other examples of ambiguous ownership of large wealth. The British Royal Family are quite wealthy in their own right, but they would be worth at least 20 US$ billion more if their fortune included the Crown Estate which is run by the British government but still legally owned by the British monarch.