Trust in Government (OECD countries): Number 34
When looking internationally, one of the inescapable conclusions is that national governments that work effectively to lessen inequality, promote the well-being of their citizens, and deliver on those promises enjoy a higher level of trust from their citizens. Here the US ranks poorly.
Citizens in Switzerland have the highest percentage of trust in government (83.3 percent), followed by Finland (77.5), Sweden (68.8), Norway (63.6), and Denmark (63.5). The United ranks 34th with just 31.0 percent of citizens trusting the government.
Source: “Trust in Government,” OECD (2023),
https://data.oecd.org/gga/trust-in-government.htm#indicator-chart. Luxembourg, ranking second, was left off this table.
When looking internationally, one of the inescapable conclusions is that national governments that work effectively to lessen inequality, promote the well-being of their citizens, and deliver on those promises enjoy a higher level of trust from their citizens. Here the US ranks poorly.
Citizens in Switzerland have the highest percentage of trust in government (83.3 percent), followed by Finland (77.5), Sweden (68.8), Norway (63.6), and Denmark (63.5). The United ranks 34th with just 31.0 percent of citizens trusting the government.
Source: “Trust in Government,” OECD (2023),
https://data.oecd.org/gga/trust-in-government.htm#indicator-chart. Luxembourg, ranking second, was left off this table.
Lowest Child Poverty (OECD countries): Number 31
During the pandemic years, the percentage of child poverty declined in the United States and was greatly assisted by the Child Tax Credit. From July through December 2021, the Internal Revenue Service paid Child Tax Credits worth $250 per child (age 6 to 17) and up to $300 per child under the age of 6; a total of 61 million children in 36 million households were assisted. Thus, 3 million children were kept out of poverty in July 2021, climbing up to 3.7 million in December. Thanks to the Child Tax Credit, the poverty rate in 2021 fell to its lowest level ever recorded by the US Census Bureau. But there was a looming expiration date on this successful program.
The expanded Child Tax Credit was scheduled to be continued in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better legislation. The bill passed in the House of Representatives in November 2021, but was blocked in the Senate by the refusal of Democrat Joe Manchin III to agree. Thus, the Child Tax Credit was not renewed. The results were immediate. Child poverty has increased dramatically from 12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17.0 percent in January 2022. Researchers from the Columbia University Center for Poverty and Social Policy note that 3.7 million more children were in poverty in early 2022 due to the ending of the monthly tax credits, and Latino and Black children were hit the hardest. Then came the official numbers from the US Census Bureau: child poverty spiked in 2022, averaging 12.4 percent, up from 5.2 percent in the previous year. “By far this is the largest annual increase in US history for both children and the overall population in terms of poverty, going back to 1967,” said Zachary Parolin at the Columbia University Center for Poverty and Social Policy. Altogether, five million children were affected by the end of the tax credits.
The OECD calculates that the percentage of children living in poverty for Finland is 2.4 percent. Ranking second is Denmark (4.8 percent), third is Iceland (5.4 percent), fourth is Slovenia (5.6 percent), and fifth is the Czech Republic (7.1 percent). The United States ranks 31st with18.8 percent of children living in poverty.
Sources: Zachary Parolin, Sophie Collyer, and Megan A. Curran, “Absence of Monthly Child Tax Credit Leads to 3.7 Million More Children in Poverty in January 2022.” Poverty and Social Policy Brief Vol 6., no. 2. Center on Poverty and Social Policy, Columbia University (February 17, 2022), www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/publication/monthly-poverty-january-2022; Kyle Swenson and Amy Goldstein, “US Poverty Spiked in 2022, Reversing Gains, Census Bureau Data Shows,” Washington Post, September 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/09/12/us-poverty-rate-census-uninsured-2022/; “Proportion of Children Living in Poverty in the OECD Countries, 2020, Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/264424/child-poverty-in-oecd-countries/; OECD database.
During the pandemic years, the percentage of child poverty declined in the United States and was greatly assisted by the Child Tax Credit. From July through December 2021, the Internal Revenue Service paid Child Tax Credits worth $250 per child (age 6 to 17) and up to $300 per child under the age of 6; a total of 61 million children in 36 million households were assisted. Thus, 3 million children were kept out of poverty in July 2021, climbing up to 3.7 million in December. Thanks to the Child Tax Credit, the poverty rate in 2021 fell to its lowest level ever recorded by the US Census Bureau. But there was a looming expiration date on this successful program.
The expanded Child Tax Credit was scheduled to be continued in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better legislation. The bill passed in the House of Representatives in November 2021, but was blocked in the Senate by the refusal of Democrat Joe Manchin III to agree. Thus, the Child Tax Credit was not renewed. The results were immediate. Child poverty has increased dramatically from 12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17.0 percent in January 2022. Researchers from the Columbia University Center for Poverty and Social Policy note that 3.7 million more children were in poverty in early 2022 due to the ending of the monthly tax credits, and Latino and Black children were hit the hardest. Then came the official numbers from the US Census Bureau: child poverty spiked in 2022, averaging 12.4 percent, up from 5.2 percent in the previous year. “By far this is the largest annual increase in US history for both children and the overall population in terms of poverty, going back to 1967,” said Zachary Parolin at the Columbia University Center for Poverty and Social Policy. Altogether, five million children were affected by the end of the tax credits.
The OECD calculates that the percentage of children living in poverty for Finland is 2.4 percent. Ranking second is Denmark (4.8 percent), third is Iceland (5.4 percent), fourth is Slovenia (5.6 percent), and fifth is the Czech Republic (7.1 percent). The United States ranks 31st with18.8 percent of children living in poverty.
Sources: Zachary Parolin, Sophie Collyer, and Megan A. Curran, “Absence of Monthly Child Tax Credit Leads to 3.7 Million More Children in Poverty in January 2022.” Poverty and Social Policy Brief Vol 6., no. 2. Center on Poverty and Social Policy, Columbia University (February 17, 2022), www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/publication/monthly-poverty-january-2022; Kyle Swenson and Amy Goldstein, “US Poverty Spiked in 2022, Reversing Gains, Census Bureau Data Shows,” Washington Post, September 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/09/12/us-poverty-rate-census-uninsured-2022/; “Proportion of Children Living in Poverty in the OECD Countries, 2020, Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/264424/child-poverty-in-oecd-countries/; OECD database.
Prevalence of Overall Poverty: We’re Number 28
The level and depth of poverty in the United States should trouble us all. Recent studies, written by sociologists Matthew Desmond and Mark Robert Rank, economist Anne Case and Angus Deaton, and economist Joseph Stiglitz, among many others, explore the depths of American poverty and its consequences. Deaton once observed that “There are millions of Americans whose suffering, through material poverty or poor health, is as bad or worse than that of the people of Africa or in Asia.” Furthermore, nearly 18 million Americans, 6 percent of the population, live in what is categorized as “deep poverty.” These individuals survive at less than one-half the official poverty rate. For single adults, that half-poverty line figure is $6,380; for a family of four, it is $13,100.
When comparing the poverty rates among the OECD countries, we find that the United States is the definite outlier. It has the highest percentage of overall poverty (15.1 percent) and the highest rate of child poverty (20.9 percent). Using 2019 data, the average overall poverty rate among OECD countries is 10.7 percent; the average child (ages 0 to 17 years old) poverty rate among the 25 OECD countries is 11.7 percent.
Of the 28 countries surveyed, the United States is the outlier, ranked as 28th.
Sources: Matthew Desmond, Poverty, By America; Mark Robert Rank, The Poverty Paradox: Understanding Economic Hardship Amid American Prosperity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023); Anne Case and Angus Deaton, Death of Despair and the Future of Capitalism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021); Sitglitz, The Price of Inequality. “America’s Poor Are Worse Off Than Elsewhere,” Confronting Poverty, n.d., https://confrontingpoverty.org/poverty-facts-and-myths/americas-poor-are-worse-off-than-elsewhere/ (accessed March 22, 2023). Statistica, https://www.statista.com/statistics/233910/poverty-rates-in-oecd-countries.
The level and depth of poverty in the United States should trouble us all. Recent studies, written by sociologists Matthew Desmond and Mark Robert Rank, economist Anne Case and Angus Deaton, and economist Joseph Stiglitz, among many others, explore the depths of American poverty and its consequences. Deaton once observed that “There are millions of Americans whose suffering, through material poverty or poor health, is as bad or worse than that of the people of Africa or in Asia.” Furthermore, nearly 18 million Americans, 6 percent of the population, live in what is categorized as “deep poverty.” These individuals survive at less than one-half the official poverty rate. For single adults, that half-poverty line figure is $6,380; for a family of four, it is $13,100.
When comparing the poverty rates among the OECD countries, we find that the United States is the definite outlier. It has the highest percentage of overall poverty (15.1 percent) and the highest rate of child poverty (20.9 percent). Using 2019 data, the average overall poverty rate among OECD countries is 10.7 percent; the average child (ages 0 to 17 years old) poverty rate among the 25 OECD countries is 11.7 percent.
Of the 28 countries surveyed, the United States is the outlier, ranked as 28th.
Sources: Matthew Desmond, Poverty, By America; Mark Robert Rank, The Poverty Paradox: Understanding Economic Hardship Amid American Prosperity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023); Anne Case and Angus Deaton, Death of Despair and the Future of Capitalism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021); Sitglitz, The Price of Inequality. “America’s Poor Are Worse Off Than Elsewhere,” Confronting Poverty, n.d., https://confrontingpoverty.org/poverty-facts-and-myths/americas-poor-are-worse-off-than-elsewhere/ (accessed March 22, 2023). Statistica, https://www.statista.com/statistics/233910/poverty-rates-in-oecd-countries.
Social Mobility (OECD and selected other countries): Number 27
How about Social Mobility, that widespread assumption that American sons and daughters, if they worked hard and played by the rules, would have a better life than their parents? This may be true in some countries, but increasingly not in the United States.
But in groundbreaking economic analysis, titled “The Fading American Dream,” economist Raj Chetty and his colleagues have shown that the prospects for children to earn more than their parents “have faded over the past half-century in the United States. The fraction of children earning more than their parents fell from approximately 90 percent for children born in 1940 to around 50 percent for children entering the labor market today. Absolute income mobility has fallen across the entire income distribution, with the largest declines for families in the middle class.” What would help reverse this downward trend? “A more even distribution of economic growth, rather than more growth, would allow more children to fulfill their dreams.”
Why is the United States only 27th on this list? The OECD used several pillars to calculate its rankings. The US ranked high on Work Opportunities and Technology Access pillars but had the lowest scores in the region on the Fair Wages pillar; further, it ranked low on the Social Protection pillar and the Health pillar, where it performs “quite poorly.” Indeed, in America today, a child’s future ability to earn is closely tied with the socio-economic standing of its parents. “The game is half over,” wrote philosopher Matthew Stewart, “once you’ve selected your parents.”
The Scandinavian countries—Denmark (85.2), Norway (83.6), Finland (83.6), Sweden (83.5), along with Iceland (82.7), the Netherlands (82.4), and Switzerland (82.1) In addition, Germany ranked 11th (78.8), France ranked 12th (76.7), Canada and Japan ranked 14th (76.1), and South Korea ranked 25th (71.4)—all having social mobility scores higher than the United States (70.4). The Russian Federation ranked 39th (64.7), China ranked 45th (61.5), and Mexico ranked 58th (52.6).
Source: Raj Chetty, David Grusky, Maximilian Hell, Nathaniel Hendren, Robert Manduca, and Jimmy Narang, “The Fading American Dream” Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940,” Science 356 (6336) (April 24, 2017), https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aal4617#editor-abstract. Matthew Stewart, “The 9.9 Percent is the New American Aristocracy,” The Atlantic, June 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new-american-aristocracy/559130/.
How about Social Mobility, that widespread assumption that American sons and daughters, if they worked hard and played by the rules, would have a better life than their parents? This may be true in some countries, but increasingly not in the United States.
But in groundbreaking economic analysis, titled “The Fading American Dream,” economist Raj Chetty and his colleagues have shown that the prospects for children to earn more than their parents “have faded over the past half-century in the United States. The fraction of children earning more than their parents fell from approximately 90 percent for children born in 1940 to around 50 percent for children entering the labor market today. Absolute income mobility has fallen across the entire income distribution, with the largest declines for families in the middle class.” What would help reverse this downward trend? “A more even distribution of economic growth, rather than more growth, would allow more children to fulfill their dreams.”
Why is the United States only 27th on this list? The OECD used several pillars to calculate its rankings. The US ranked high on Work Opportunities and Technology Access pillars but had the lowest scores in the region on the Fair Wages pillar; further, it ranked low on the Social Protection pillar and the Health pillar, where it performs “quite poorly.” Indeed, in America today, a child’s future ability to earn is closely tied with the socio-economic standing of its parents. “The game is half over,” wrote philosopher Matthew Stewart, “once you’ve selected your parents.”
The Scandinavian countries—Denmark (85.2), Norway (83.6), Finland (83.6), Sweden (83.5), along with Iceland (82.7), the Netherlands (82.4), and Switzerland (82.1) In addition, Germany ranked 11th (78.8), France ranked 12th (76.7), Canada and Japan ranked 14th (76.1), and South Korea ranked 25th (71.4)—all having social mobility scores higher than the United States (70.4). The Russian Federation ranked 39th (64.7), China ranked 45th (61.5), and Mexico ranked 58th (52.6).
Source: Raj Chetty, David Grusky, Maximilian Hell, Nathaniel Hendren, Robert Manduca, and Jimmy Narang, “The Fading American Dream” Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940,” Science 356 (6336) (April 24, 2017), https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aal4617#editor-abstract. Matthew Stewart, “The 9.9 Percent is the New American Aristocracy,” The Atlantic, June 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new-american-aristocracy/559130/.
Gender Equity in Wages (OECD and selected other countries): Number 38
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research through its Status of Women in the States analysis shows that the persistent pay inequality is “far-reaching: if women in the United States received equal pay with comparable men, poverty for working women would be reduced by half and the U.S. economy would have added $482 billion (equivalent to 2.8 percent of 2014 GDP) to its economy.” Further, if working women were paid at the same comparable rate as men, the poverty rate among all working women would fall from 8.2 percent to 4.0 percent.
In looking at the wage gender gap in 2022, the OECD found that the United States ranked 38th among OECD and selected other countries. The country with the least wage gap is Belgium; for men earning $100.00, women earn $98.83. The average for twenty-seven countries in the European Union is this: men earn $100.00, women earn $89.37. The United States figures are far lower: men earn $100.00 and women earn $83.14.
Sources: “The Economic Impact of Equal Pay by State,” Status of Women in the States, http://statusofwomendata.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SWS-Equal-Pay-and-Poverty_final.pdf; “Gender Wage Gap,” OECD, https://data.oecd.org/earnwage/gender-wage-gap.htm. The OECD defines the gender gap as “The difference between median earnings of men and women relative to median earnings of men.”
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research through its Status of Women in the States analysis shows that the persistent pay inequality is “far-reaching: if women in the United States received equal pay with comparable men, poverty for working women would be reduced by half and the U.S. economy would have added $482 billion (equivalent to 2.8 percent of 2014 GDP) to its economy.” Further, if working women were paid at the same comparable rate as men, the poverty rate among all working women would fall from 8.2 percent to 4.0 percent.
In looking at the wage gender gap in 2022, the OECD found that the United States ranked 38th among OECD and selected other countries. The country with the least wage gap is Belgium; for men earning $100.00, women earn $98.83. The average for twenty-seven countries in the European Union is this: men earn $100.00, women earn $89.37. The United States figures are far lower: men earn $100.00 and women earn $83.14.
Sources: “The Economic Impact of Equal Pay by State,” Status of Women in the States, http://statusofwomendata.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SWS-Equal-Pay-and-Poverty_final.pdf; “Gender Wage Gap,” OECD, https://data.oecd.org/earnwage/gender-wage-gap.htm. The OECD defines the gender gap as “The difference between median earnings of men and women relative to median earnings of men.”
National Minimum Wage: We’re Number 17
In 2009, the US federal minimum wage was set at $7.25 an hour; despite repeated efforts to raise the rate, today it remains at $7.25. This is the longest period of time, since first enacted in 1938, that the rate has not increased. Adjusted for inflation, this minimum wage is 40 percent lower than the minimum wage ($1.60) set in 1970 ($11.95 in 2023 dollars). With the greater cost of food, housing, and other necessities following the pandemic, the $7.25 minimum has shrunk even further.
In 2013, Republicans in the House voted unanimously to defeat a bill that would have raised the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour; in 2014, a Republican filibuster in the Senate blocked similar wage increase. In 2019, Democrats introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2019, with the goal of reaching $15 an hour by 2023, and eliminating the subminimum wage for tipped employees, which now is $2.13 an hour. Under this proposal, beginning in 2025, the minimum wage would be indexed to median wages, so that every year that the median wage grew, so too would the minimum wage. If enacted, the Raise the Wage Act would have affected 26.6 percent of the American wage-earning workforce, a total of 39.7 million workers. The proposal went nowhere, but was reintroduced two years later by Sanders and Scott.
While Congress has stalled, several cities and states have adjusted their minimum wages to keep up with inflation. In 2012, an advocacy campaign, Fight for $15, was launched among fast-food workers. Since then, several states and cities have increased, or soon plan to increase, their minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Four countries, Luxembourg, Australia, France, and Germany, have minimum wages above $12 per hour.
Sources: Raise the Minimum Wage website,
https://raisetheminimumwage.com/federal-campaigns/. “Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $15 by 2024 Would Lift Pay for Nearly 40 Million Workers,” Economic Policy Institute, February 5, 2019, https://www.epi.org/publication/raising-the-federal-minimum-wage-to-15-by-2024-would-lift-pay-for-nearly-40-million-workers/; “Ranking of OECD Countries by National Minimum Wage in 2021,” Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/322716/ranking-of-oecd-countries-by-national-minimum-wage/.
In 2009, the US federal minimum wage was set at $7.25 an hour; despite repeated efforts to raise the rate, today it remains at $7.25. This is the longest period of time, since first enacted in 1938, that the rate has not increased. Adjusted for inflation, this minimum wage is 40 percent lower than the minimum wage ($1.60) set in 1970 ($11.95 in 2023 dollars). With the greater cost of food, housing, and other necessities following the pandemic, the $7.25 minimum has shrunk even further.
In 2013, Republicans in the House voted unanimously to defeat a bill that would have raised the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour; in 2014, a Republican filibuster in the Senate blocked similar wage increase. In 2019, Democrats introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2019, with the goal of reaching $15 an hour by 2023, and eliminating the subminimum wage for tipped employees, which now is $2.13 an hour. Under this proposal, beginning in 2025, the minimum wage would be indexed to median wages, so that every year that the median wage grew, so too would the minimum wage. If enacted, the Raise the Wage Act would have affected 26.6 percent of the American wage-earning workforce, a total of 39.7 million workers. The proposal went nowhere, but was reintroduced two years later by Sanders and Scott.
While Congress has stalled, several cities and states have adjusted their minimum wages to keep up with inflation. In 2012, an advocacy campaign, Fight for $15, was launched among fast-food workers. Since then, several states and cities have increased, or soon plan to increase, their minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Four countries, Luxembourg, Australia, France, and Germany, have minimum wages above $12 per hour.
Sources: Raise the Minimum Wage website,
https://raisetheminimumwage.com/federal-campaigns/. “Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $15 by 2024 Would Lift Pay for Nearly 40 Million Workers,” Economic Policy Institute, February 5, 2019, https://www.epi.org/publication/raising-the-federal-minimum-wage-to-15-by-2024-would-lift-pay-for-nearly-40-million-workers/; “Ranking of OECD Countries by National Minimum Wage in 2021,” Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/322716/ranking-of-oecd-countries-by-national-minimum-wage/.
Income Equality: We’re Number 32
The US Census Bureau began tracking income inequality in 1967; in 2018, the level of inequality reached its highest peak. Recovery from the crippling 2008 economic downturn was slow but steady, but the economic separation between the rich and the poor became even more pronounced. The impact of the pandemic years only added to that separation.
All countries have income inequalities, but in looking at the OECD countries, we find that the United States ranks 32nd, just ahead of Bulgaria, Turkey, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Those countries with the least income inequality are the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Belgium, Norway, and Denmark.
Source: “Income Inequality,” OECD Data, https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm.
The US Census Bureau began tracking income inequality in 1967; in 2018, the level of inequality reached its highest peak. Recovery from the crippling 2008 economic downturn was slow but steady, but the economic separation between the rich and the poor became even more pronounced. The impact of the pandemic years only added to that separation.
All countries have income inequalities, but in looking at the OECD countries, we find that the United States ranks 32nd, just ahead of Bulgaria, Turkey, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Those countries with the least income inequality are the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Belgium, Norway, and Denmark.
Source: “Income Inequality,” OECD Data, https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm.
Most Unequal Distribution of Wealth (worldwide): Number 3
One way of measuring inequality is through the Gini Coefficient, a statistical measurement that calculates how spread-out from one another are the wealth concentrations. Perfect equality, where 10 percent of the population have 10 percent of the wealth, is represented by the value 0.00; while the value 1.00 represents total inequality of wealth (the highest cohort has all the wealth, the rest of society has none). When comparing the United States with countries throughout the world, using the Gini Coefficient to measure wealth, it comes in as the third most unequal, just behind Brazil and the Russian Federation.
Source: James Davies, Rodrigo Lluberas, and Anthony Shorrocks, “Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook, 2022, Credit Suisse, https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html.
One way of measuring inequality is through the Gini Coefficient, a statistical measurement that calculates how spread-out from one another are the wealth concentrations. Perfect equality, where 10 percent of the population have 10 percent of the wealth, is represented by the value 0.00; while the value 1.00 represents total inequality of wealth (the highest cohort has all the wealth, the rest of society has none). When comparing the United States with countries throughout the world, using the Gini Coefficient to measure wealth, it comes in as the third most unequal, just behind Brazil and the Russian Federation.
Source: James Davies, Rodrigo Lluberas, and Anthony Shorrocks, “Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook, 2022, Credit Suisse, https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html.
Wealth Concentrated in Top 10 Percent of Households (OECD Countries): Number 1
Among OECD countries, the United States stands far above the rest in the unequal distribution of wealth. While the Credit Suisse research shows that the top 10 percent of American families hold 69.2 percent, the OECD, using other date, estimates that nearly 80 percent of all wealth in the US is controlled by the top 10 percent of households.
Source: “Social Mobility,” OECD, https://www.oecd.org/stories/social-mobility/ from OECD Wealth Database.
Among OECD countries, the United States stands far above the rest in the unequal distribution of wealth. While the Credit Suisse research shows that the top 10 percent of American families hold 69.2 percent, the OECD, using other date, estimates that nearly 80 percent of all wealth in the US is controlled by the top 10 percent of households.
Source: “Social Mobility,” OECD, https://www.oecd.org/stories/social-mobility/ from OECD Wealth Database.
Median Individual Wealth: We’re Number 18
The ranking of median individual wealth shows a different picture. In 2021, Australia ranked first with $273,900 in individual wealth; Belgium ($267,890) was second; New Zealand ($231,260) was third; Hong Kong SAR ($202,380) was fourth; and Denmark ($171,170) was fifth. The United States median individual wealth was $93,270, ranking 18th.
Source: James Davies, Rodrigo Lluberas, and Anthony Shorrocks, “Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook, 2022, Credit Suisse, https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html
The ranking of median individual wealth shows a different picture. In 2021, Australia ranked first with $273,900 in individual wealth; Belgium ($267,890) was second; New Zealand ($231,260) was third; Hong Kong SAR ($202,380) was fourth; and Denmark ($171,170) was fifth. The United States median individual wealth was $93,270, ranking 18th.
Source: James Davies, Rodrigo Lluberas, and Anthony Shorrocks, “Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook, 2022, Credit Suisse, https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html
Average Individual Wealth: We’re Number 2
The United States is indeed a very wealthy country and, among OECD countries, ranks second in average individual wealth just behind Switzerland. In 2021, Switzerland had an average individual wealth of $696,604; the United States had $579,051. Australia ($550,110) was third, New Zealand ($472,153) was fourth, and Denmark ($426,494) was fifth.
Source: James Davies, Rodrigo Lluberas, and Anthony Shorrocks, “Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook, 2022, Credit Suisse, https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html
The United States is indeed a very wealthy country and, among OECD countries, ranks second in average individual wealth just behind Switzerland. In 2021, Switzerland had an average individual wealth of $696,604; the United States had $579,051. Australia ($550,110) was third, New Zealand ($472,153) was fourth, and Denmark ($426,494) was fifth.
Source: James Davies, Rodrigo Lluberas, and Anthony Shorrocks, “Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook, 2022, Credit Suisse, https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html