Let’s comb the data for the individual regions:

AMERICAS: There is a visible difference between the median wealth per adult as we move from North to South in the Americas. Canada & the United States are the two richest countries with a median wealth of $107K & $65.9K per adult respectively followed by Aruba at $21.8K. Central American nations & Caribbean islands fare relatively well as compared so some of the other Latin American countries.

Brazil ($5K) & Mexico ($9.9K) are the two major economies that remained in the lower end of the spectrum. Chile & Uruguay were the two bright spots in the Southern continent with $19.2K and $11.1K median wealth per adult respectively. Venezuela was the outlier here with a worthless currency and a collapsed economy.

EUROPE: The European continent is clearly the wealthiest with the western part more so than the eastern half. Switzerland at $227.9K median wealth per adult is not only the richest country in Europe but the whole world followed by Iceland with $166K and Luxembourg at $139.8K.

There are some outliers like Ukraine which has a median wealth number of only $1.2K being the poorest country on the continent. Other eastern countries like Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia & Turkey all have median wealth numbers below $10K.

AFRICA: The underdeveloped African region is evidently the poorest in the world. Astonishingly, there isn’t even a single country where the median wealth is over $10K. Even important economies like South Africa & Nigeria only have a median wealth of $6.5K and $1.2K respectively. Top honors were scored by the tourist island nations of Seychelles ($22.6K) & Mauritius ($20.9K) followed by the oil-rich Libya with a median wealth of $8.3K.

ASIA: Wealth in the biggest continent was concentrated either on the Far East or towards the Middle Eastern countries owing to their oil reserves. Countries connected to the global financial system & supply chain like Hong Kong, Japan & Singapore are the clear winners with median wealth values of $146.9K, $110.4K and $97K respectively.

Other major global economies like China & India were at the lower end of the spectrum with a median wealth of $20.9K and $3K respectively. Where would Hong Kong stand after the massive longstanding demonstrations this year is anybody’s guess.

OCEANIA: Australia ($181.4K) & New Zealand ($116.4K) are the wealthiest countries of not only this region but one of the wealthiest in the world. These two countries are surrounded mostly by smaller island nations like Tonga ($19.7K), Fiji ($6.1K) and Vanuatu ($6.1K) who have little in the way of showcasing wealth.

Although not the only metric to measure economic well being, median wealth per adult does present a picture of the distribution of wealth around the globe. What other factors would you consider when making a choice where to live in the world?