National net wealth, also known as national net worth, is the total sum of the value of a country's
asset
In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that can b ...
s minus its
liabilities. It refers to the total value of net
wealth
Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...
possessed by the residents of a state at a set point in time.
Despite the name, figures in this article only cover household wealth and exclude government wealth, which may be substantial, as in China, or negative, as in the UK or US, and so does not show total wealth. This figure is an important indicator of a nation's ability to take on
debt
Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money Loan, borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by a sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Co ...
and sustain
spending and is influenced not only by real estate prices, equity market prices, exchange rates, liabilities and incidence in a country of the population, but also by
human resources
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...
,
natural resources, and
capital and technological advancements, which may create new assets or render others worthless in the future.
The most significant component by far among most developed nations is commonly reported as household net wealth or worth, and reflects infrastructure investment. National wealth can fluctuate, as evidenced in the United States after the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009. and subsequent economic recovery. During periods when equity markets experience strong growth, the relative national and per capita wealth of the countries where people are more exposed on those markets, such as the United States and United Kingdom, tend to rise. On the other hand, when equity markets are depressed, the relative wealth of the countries where people invest more in real estate and bonds, such as France and Italy, tend to rise instead.
Total household wealth by country
* indicates "Wealth in country or territory" or "Economy of country or territory" links.
Countries ranking through time
In the following table are ranked the 30 countries by the largest national net wealth from 2000 to 2022 according to UBS and Credit Suisse S.A. (August 2023).
Shares of global wealth
The following table indicates the share of global wealth of the ten wealthiest countries by net national wealth at given years. The share of global wealth of a country that is 5% or greater at a given year is in bold.
See also
*
List of countries by financial assets per capita
*
List of countries by wealth per adult
This is a list of countries of the world by wealth per adult, from UBS's ''Global Wealth Databook.'' See table 3-1 for all countries, on pages 123-126, for mean and median wealth, Gini coefficient, distribution of adults (%) by wealth range, ...
*
G7
*
Distribution of wealth
The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society. It shows one aspect of economic inequality or heterogeneity in economics, economic heterogeneity.
The distribution of wealth differs from the i ...
*
Affluence in the United States
*
Wealth distribution in Europe
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Wealth
Macroeconomic aggregates
total wealth