Qatar AP Qatar, Luxembourg and Singapore: On top of sharing the particularity of being some of the smallest countries in the world, they are also the three richest countries in the world, according to an analysis by the Global Finance Magazine.

Based on data from the IMF, the magazine ranked the world's countries according to their GDP per capita and determined the poorest and richest ones.

The analysis also used a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) basis, which takes into account the living cost and inflation rates, in order to compare living standards between the different nations.



Some small territories, such as Liechtenstein, Nauru, Vatican City, Monaco, San Marino and Andorra were not included in the study.

Using this measure Qatar, located of the east coast of Saudi Arabia, has come in as the richest country in the world over the 2009-2013 period.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is at the other end of the spectrum and has been the poorest country in the world over the 2010-2013 period.

Map of the richest and poorest countries in the world - Dark red: highest GDP per capita, Light red: lowest GDP per capita Global Finance Magazine

Luxembourg is the second richest country in the world with an average GDP per capita of $79,593,91. The high figure is partly due to the large number of people working in the tiny landlocked nation while living in surrounding France, Germany and Belgium.

Those salaries bump up the total on which the GDP per capita calculation is based on, but since they do not live in the country, they are not part of the number by which it divided.