Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report: Switzerland is the wealthiest major economy – Business Insider


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Lausanne, Switzerland The Swiss city of Lausanne. Gabriel Garcia Marengo/Flickr

People living in Switzerland are by far the wealthiest of those in any major economy around the world, and they are getting richer, according to the latest Global Wealth Report from the Credit Suisse Research Institute.

The central European nation — which has a global reputation for being home to the super wealthy — saw its average wealth per adult grow substantially during 2016, compared to a stagnation globally.

Switzerland has now topped Credit Suisse’s table for the world’s wealthiest nations every year since 2001, and the gap is growing.

Here is the key quote from the report, compiled by Anthony Koutsoukis, Anthony Shorrocks, Jim Davies, and Rodrigo Lluberas (emphasis ours):

“The recently published Credit Suisse Research Institute’s Global Wealth Report found that, in 2016, wealth per adult stagnated at the global level. In contrast to the global trend, Switzerland has seen an impressive development in wealth per adult and has increased its distance from the runner-up significantly. In 2000, the second wealthiest country among major economies was the United States, lagging 11% behind Switzerland. By 2007, the United Kingdom took over the second position, but was still 16% behind Switzerland. Currently, the second-wealthiest country in the world as measured by wealth per adult, Australia, lags Switzerland by 33%.”

Contained within Credit Suisse’s report on just how much richer than the rest of the world Switzerland is, are several charts, clearly illustrating the massive gap the nation has. We’ve picked out the five most important charts below.

1. Average wealth per adult in Switzerland has increased by 142% since 2000, compared to just 67% globally:

CS swiss wealth 5 Credit Suisse

2. The average Swiss adult enjoys a wealth of more than $560,000, more than $200,000 above the next closest major economy, the USA:

CS swiss wealth 4 Credit Suisse

3. Median wealth per person (including children) is more than double Switzerland’s nearest rival, the UK:

CS swiss wealth 3 Credit Suisse

4. Switzerland has a massively higher proportion of adults worth more than $1 million than any other major nation:

CS swiss wealth 2 Credit Suisse

5. The gap between the wealthiest 10% of people in Switzerland and elsewhere in the world is staggering: CS swiss wealth 1 Credit Suisse

“In terms of personal wealth, our estimates show that, on average, the Swiss are eleven times wealthier than the average world citizen. They are approximately twice as wealthy as citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom and France, almost three times as wealthy as Germans and 25 times better off than the average Chinese citizen,” says Credit Suisse’s report, illustrating just how crazily rich the people of Switzerland are. 

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