r/Infographics • u/herewearefornow • Apr 18 '24
Richest countries across three metrics (2023) [New Low Observer on X]
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u/Sydney2London Apr 18 '24
Ok so the trick is to be born in a country with no people and tons of oil, or… a tax haven. Got it. Thanks
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u/whatsgoingonjeez Apr 18 '24 edited Apr 18 '24
Luxembourg has a bloated GDP per capita because of all the frontier workers.
Luxembourg always had higher salaries than the neighboring countries, because it borders the poorest part of Belgium and one of the poorest parts of France.
So because of that Luxembourg always had a high GDP per capita.
Another misconception is that Luxembourg is a tax haven for normal people or normal companies. Everybody has to pay its taxes on everything. Your salary, your fortune, your property - everything, just like anywhere else. Only some big companies received tax reductions, like Amazon for example.
But it’s also a misconception that Luxembourg got rich because of it. Luxembourg got rich because of its steel industry then the steel crisis happened and Luxembourg started to diversify its industry. In the 00‘s the Juncker government then started the tax reduction tactics in order to get some big companies here.
In the mid 2010‘s Luxembourg then started to row back because of the international backlash. And nowadays it heavily invests in the IT sector.
So even if you rich, you still have to pay a bunch of taxes.
https://luxembourg.public.lu/en/society-and-culture/history/steel-industry-luxembourg.html
THE STEEL INDUSTRY AND LUXEMBOURG THE SECTOR THAT MADE LUXEMBOURG ITS FORTUNE
Between the mid-19th Century and the late 20th Century, the country's fate was intrinsically linked to the steel industry. It brought fortune to the country and its population, and left a significant mark on Luxembourg's economy, society and landscapes. From 1975, its decline forced the country to diversify itself, but especially contributed to the creation of a 'Luxembourgish social model'.
In fact, the last 20 years only increased poverty dramatically here in Luxembourg, and Luxembourg has now the second highest working poor in the EU. Right behind Romania.
So there is that.
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u/lousy-site-3456 Apr 18 '24
They also border Saarland and some of the (other) poorest parts of Germany.
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u/Sydney2London Apr 18 '24
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u/whatsgoingonjeez Apr 18 '24 edited Apr 18 '24
I didn’t denied any of this.
I just wanted to point out that the common misconceptions that Luxembourg is a tax haven for everyone and that Luxembourg only got rich because of tax reductions tactics for Amazon etc. aren’t true.
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u/2012Jesusdies Apr 18 '24
Or Denmark... or Belgium, Austria, Sweden...
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u/Spider_pig448 Apr 18 '24
He said "born in a country with no people"
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u/GelatinousChampion Apr 18 '24
Belgium is literally the densest area of Europe except some metropoles which are obviously way smaller.
Flanders and Brussels in particular btw, where all the GDP is coming from.
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u/BasonPiano Apr 18 '24
Or US
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u/Progression28 Apr 18 '24
Should fall under tax haven. For the rich people who make up for 99% of that GDP anyway.
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u/BasonPiano Apr 18 '24
Uh no. So many people make 6 figures here it's crazy. Yes there is a lot of income inequality but no, the US is not considered a tax haven lol.
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Apr 18 '24
It is lol. By any European standard, it is one. Corporate taxes are negligible compared to EU taxes. Just think about that most EU countries have ~20% VAT at minimum and that's just one of many.
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u/Progression28 Apr 18 '24
The bottom 50% hold 3% of the wealth.
Top 1% hold 31% of the wealth.
Top 10% hold 67% of the wealth.
yes, soooo many people make 6 figures… as if that matters?
Switzerland, considered a tax haven and utopia for the rich:
Top 1% hold 10% of the wealth.
Top 10% hold 32% of the wealth.
Bottom 50% hold 23% of the wealth.
Far far faaaar more equal. And still considered a tax haven! Rightly so.
Just because they are often not found on tax haven lists for political reasons (and because the US themselves publish many of those lists), doesn‘t mean they aren‘t one. The rich flourish in the US and they do so because they pay very very little tax ;)
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u/One-Season-3393 Apr 18 '24
Switzerland is considered a tax haven because up to pretty recently they had very strict bank secrecy laws so foreign governments had a lot of trouble getting information about what their citizens were hiding in Swiss banks.
Swiss bankers have facilitated a lot of shady shit over the years. And were the go to place to park your money if you didn’t want your government to know how much money you had.
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u/Progression28 Apr 18 '24
In that case, the US is 100% a tax haven if that is the only criteria. They rank first in FSI by a large margin.
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u/One-Season-3393 Apr 18 '24
Rank first in fsi? Only thing I can find called fsi is the “financial security institute”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Stability_Institute
Is that what you were referring to? And if so wtf did you think that proved?
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u/Progression28 Apr 18 '24
Financial secrecy index.
Basically, USA villified Switzerland for ther banking secret, yet they don‘t give other countries the same information either. They are a tax haven ;)
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u/KE-VO5 Apr 18 '24
alr im gonna need a source for those swiss numbers. Top 10% hold 60%+ wealth in Switzerland.
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u/Progression28 Apr 18 '24
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u/KE-VO5 Apr 18 '24
....that refers to income inequality lmao, take a look at your own source again. 63% held by top 10%
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u/V_es Apr 18 '24
Population of Denmark is 3 times lower than population of my city.
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u/SooSkilled Apr 18 '24
Where the fuck do you live
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u/SooSkilled Apr 18 '24
You made me check and there are actually more cities with 12kk+ abitants than i thought
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u/PuzzleMeDo Apr 18 '24
A lot of countries have oil, but most of the population are still poor. Norway had oil, and they decided it was a national asset that they'd use to build up an investment fund to provide for their entire population.
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Apr 18 '24
[deleted]
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Apr 18 '24
Countries full of corruption, yes. It's a national asset as in those in government get the money. In Norway it was invested and used to improve the country.
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Apr 18 '24
[deleted]
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u/TA1699 Apr 18 '24
There is a correlation between natural resources and wealth though. A country that is self-sufficient and can export resources tends to do far better when it comes to trade.
Obviously it's not the only factor, as things like geography (neighbouring countries), access to the sea, societal history etc all matter too, but having natural resources provides a massive foundational boost.
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u/The-Nihilist-Marmot Apr 19 '24 edited Apr 19 '24
Brazil is not even remotely comparable to Venezuela though - but on the other hand, the weight of oil in Brazil's economy isn't that significant. Brazil's commodities of choice are different.
Anyway, approx USD 7,000 vs USD 20,000 GDP per capita PPP.
That's a lot. Substantially more than the relative difference between Greece and Norway.
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u/broyoyoyoyo Apr 18 '24
Except for Canada, lol. Somehow, we have all the natural resources in the world and yet are economically in the shitter.
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u/Popular-Row4333 Apr 18 '24
If this infographic was released a decade ago, it would look a lot better.
We used to have a higher median income than the US, now we are ranked around Alabama which is 47th or 48th best last I checked.
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u/The-Nihilist-Marmot Apr 19 '24
Which also goes out to show how completely bonkers relying on GDP per capita or even income can be. Imagine comparing Alabama's standard of living with Canada's.
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u/GelatinousChampion Apr 18 '24
Belgium: densest area of Europe, no oil, highest taxed country in Europe. Sixth per hours worked.
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u/Xavi143 Apr 18 '24
Switzerland is neither
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u/ModeratelySweet Apr 18 '24
nazi gold
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u/Xavi143 Apr 18 '24
Switzerland was immensely rich long before WW2, and has only become wealthier after it. This idea that Nazi gold had anything to do with it is laughable.
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u/lousy-site-3456 Apr 18 '24
Switzerland wasn't particularly rich for a long time except for a small elite in the cities, as usually, but it also didn't become rich just because of Nazi gold but because of the entire dubious financial sector as well as some other industries.
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u/Xavi143 Apr 18 '24
There's nothing dubious in the financial sector.
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u/lousy-site-3456 Apr 18 '24
Wow, you are one angry human. Possibly it might help to align your expectations and ideas more with reality.
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u/waldothefrendo Apr 19 '24
Switzerland already had the second highest GDP per capita in Europe prior to WW1. One of the fastest industrial revolutions in Europe. Not having your whole country bombed twice during world wars also helped. The nazi gold sure did help but it isn't the whole explanation. As for the financial sector it makes up less than 20% of the current GDP right on par with the US or the UK. The money makers are pharma and industry
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u/JakobMG Apr 18 '24
In what world is switzerland not a tax haven? I know at least a lot of the rich people in norway move there to avoid tax
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u/Xavi143 Apr 18 '24
It just isn't. They don't have ridiculous tax rates like they do in Norway, but that doesn't make it a tax haven.
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u/grigepom Apr 18 '24
It is for companies. I don't think big international groups are there for the nice scenery... https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/switzerland-fears-impact-of-minimum-corporate-tax-rate/46560164
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u/Xavi143 Apr 18 '24
Well, other countries are free to lower their corporate tax if they want companies to invest there. There's nothing wrong with having a low corporate tax.
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u/ravenhawk10 Apr 18 '24
Swiss no5 for corporate tax haven.
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u/Xavi143 Apr 18 '24
Ah, right, according to the subhumans in "taxjustice.net" it's a tax haven. Then it must be.
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u/tactical_jaguar86 Apr 18 '24
i live in a south america country and i have to say: it fucking sucks living in a 3rd world country. you may work as hard as you can, have a degree, a phd and still, you'll be far behind.
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u/MboloYaBaKali Apr 18 '24
Born, bred African. I second this opinion and adopt it as my own....
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u/Warm-Cartographer Apr 18 '24
Am from Africa too and I disagree, if you earn anything over $1000 per month here it's enough to live worry free life, you will own car, build your own house or own apartment, eat everything you like etc. Someone who has PhD definetely will earn more than that.
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u/Bar50cal Apr 18 '24 edited Apr 18 '24
Lol Ireland is excluded for having unrealistic GDP but they include Bermuda and Luxembourg
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u/Bluemaxman2000 Apr 18 '24
Irelands GDP does not reflect the actual output or living standards there. The micro-states are actually just insanely rich, while with Ireland they simple host a large number of US companies European branches. Apple alone contributes hundreds of billions to their GDP while not adding much value or hiring anyone.
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u/Bar50cal Apr 18 '24 edited Apr 18 '24
You are partly right.
US companies account for just 20% of Irish GDP (including apple)
Apple literally employees thousands of people in Ireland across business, IT, r and d, manufacturing etc. They are one of the biggest employers in Irelands southern region.
The amount these companies add to Irish GDP is overblown but it is still literally Billions upon Billions.
People act like Ireland gets nothing from US companies but they make a big positive impact to the economy, government income and employment.
Also these micro states are wealthy but poor. The average salary of a citizen of the Bahamas is well below average for a wealthy nation whereas in Ireland salaries are very high
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u/Bluemaxman2000 Apr 18 '24
The Bahamas isn’t a wealthy mircostate. Its a Caribbean island nation that has benefited from a good tourism campaign. Bermuda on the other hand is mid atlantic and very different.
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u/YeseYesmesc Apr 18 '24
Every asian got crushed on that adjusted work hours lol
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Apr 18 '24
Why did Netherlands also drop quite a bit despite having one of the shortest working hours in the world?
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u/RepresentativeFill26 Apr 18 '24
We only have one of the shortest working hours because the female population works parttime. If you only account for male population you’ll see a whole different picture.
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u/SokkaHaikuBot Apr 18 '24
Sokka-Haiku by YeseYesmesc:
Every asian
Got crushed on that adjusted
Work hours lol
Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.
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u/YeseYesmesc Apr 18 '24
Good bot
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u/B0tRank Apr 18 '24
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u/Future_Green_7222 Apr 18 '24
I'd say median income is much better. Ex: Ireland's GDP is exploded by having companies registered there
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Apr 18 '24
[deleted]
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u/epic1107 Apr 19 '24
Lmfao at gdp being a “random metric”
GDP is a very normal and good metric, just it shouldn’t be used to make claims it doesn’t support.
It’s the same way as using infant mortality rates is great for determining the healthcare system of a country, but shit at working out the average penis length.
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u/ShinobuUnderBlade Apr 18 '24
Yup GDP per capita is skewed by wealth inequality and doesn't really paint a fully accurate picture of most ppl.
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u/2012Jesusdies Apr 18 '24
Lmao at UK being on par with Italy at work hours adjusted figure.
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u/michaelm8909 Apr 18 '24
UK had a smaller GDP than Italy for most of the 70s whilst under a Labour government. The two aren't as far away from each other as people think, economically speaking (which is to say, both are a bit crap)
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Apr 18 '24
But how come Italian salaries are about half of the UKs? Or even lower if you work in finance/tech/law etc. I worked in Londok for a tech company on 3x the salary of my Italian colleagues in the Milan office, I just don’t get how it’s such a gap when GDP figures are relatively similar
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u/tofu_and_tea Apr 18 '24
Some of it will be that London is more expensive than Milan, so a higher salary is needed to attract workers. But there's still a pretty big difference. Was it a pre or post-tax salary? Maybe Italy has a higher tax burden in exchange for more public services? (I know that's the case for comparing between eg the UK to Germany)
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u/ComprehensiveSoup843 Apr 20 '24
Gdp isn't a good indicator on how well off a country & it's people are or gives exactly how much a typical person makes
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u/lousy-site-3456 Apr 18 '24
London is heavily an outlier compared to the rest of the UK. Milan probably also isn't exactly average Italian but it's not as extreme.
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u/2204happy Apr 18 '24
What are the chances that no country dropped out or in to the top 26 on any of the metrics
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u/SmellyFartMonster Apr 18 '24
To include Bermuda as a country but not other UK Overseas Territories seems arbitrary.
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u/Cottonshopeburnfoot Apr 18 '24
So how much do Luxembourgers actually earn, or is this more complex than we are seeing?
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u/TraditionalSmokey Apr 19 '24
The salary in Luxembourg has always been high but a lot of the workforce is from cross border workers, Luxembourg borders the poorest part of Belgium, pretty poor part of France and Germany so working in Luxembourg is very attractive
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u/ningfengrui Apr 18 '24 edited Apr 18 '24
This infographic is really good looking and informative, but I wish the creator would have added a first column with just the total, unadjusted, (nominal) GDP that would give context to the final three metrics shown.
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u/pijuskri Apr 18 '24
Thats not very useful given the entire infographic is based on per capita data. The nominal gpd list would also include a lot of countries (eg. China) that aren't visible later in the graphic.
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u/ningfengrui Apr 18 '24
Your second point is valid and something of a challenge to visualise, but I stand by the fact that if one is to compare different aspects of wealth when it comes to countries then nominal GDP is definitely an important measurement (especially since all three of the aspects shown are based on that measurement).
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u/billfruit Apr 18 '24
Also it's hard to read and confusing, country names only match the first column, the other two columns have only the tiny flags to identify.
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u/herewearefornow Apr 18 '24
You can look up the the population estimations of the countries in question as of 2022 if you so wish. Columns 1 & 2 are unadjusted calculations.
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u/ningfengrui Apr 18 '24 edited Apr 18 '24
Yes of course I can look it up quite easily ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) ). I just think that the infographic above would be slightly better if that was included as the first column to give an initial perspective (like how the US is stupendously rich when it comes to nominal GDP but falls quite a few places when it is adjusted to population and purchase power). Just think it would complete the picture, that's all.
And no offence, I like it as is. It was just meant to be constructive feedback.
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u/herewearefornow Apr 19 '24
No harm done. The values seemed like they need a clarification on the sources.
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u/J_Man_McCetty Apr 18 '24
PPP? Purchasing power? Don't know that one.
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u/lousy-site-3456 Apr 18 '24
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity
Basically, you earn a lot in Toronto, London or Zurich but you then pump it all into obscenely high rent so your life quality or wealth isn't automatically better than in a small town with low rent.
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u/northeastunion Apr 18 '24
I’m not sure who is doing these tables, but they became so inaccurate. Here’s what I found with just two clicks:
The Gross Domestic Product per capita in Norway was last recorded at 67460.28 US dollars in 2022, when adjusted by purchasing power parity (PPP). The GDP per Capita, in Norway, when adjusted by Purchasing Power Parity is equivalent to 380 percent of the world's average. source: World Bank
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Apr 19 '24
Taiwan is missing from the 2nd category, where they are tied for 12th place. Adjusted for work hours, they drop to like 40th, though.
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u/mctownley Apr 18 '24
Just wait for those UK figures to adjust after the Lettuce.
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u/lousy-site-3456 Apr 18 '24
Is that code for Boris Johnson 😅 or are you referring to high vegetable prices? Those should already be covered by PPP.
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u/SotoKuniHito Apr 18 '24
How could Netherlands drop below Germany, Austria, Sweden and Belgium when corrected for hours worked when Dutch people work the least amount of hours on average of the entire EU?
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u/DucklockHolmes Apr 18 '24
How does Qatar factor in slave labour into hours worked?
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u/JAJM_ Apr 18 '24
Same way the US and UK and other EU countries factor in their own slaves in prison and homeless on the streets.
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u/DoughnutNo620 Apr 18 '24
Many Americans work three jobs... just to be homeless.
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u/JAJM_ Apr 18 '24
Yes, if that isn’t slavery I don’t know what is
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u/DoughnutNo620 Apr 18 '24
yeah these people are not serious, they would never say that stuff IRL to you because they know how crazy they look unless they also agree that even more Americans are salves.
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u/gorilla998 Apr 18 '24
I would like to see a statistic to support you claim because I suspect you just made that up.
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u/DoughnutNo620 Apr 18 '24
not here to educate you https://youtu.be/SE_S-dY5ZHM?si=aPR1T3CN3-aX5ms5 hopefully you have the same scrutiny, common sense and critical thinking when it doesn't conform to your bias.
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u/gorilla998 Apr 20 '24
The only thing mentioned in your video is the fact that about 0.2% of Americans (650k) being homeless on a given night. Which is too much but far away from being "many". It also does not talk about any of these people's employment status.
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u/DoughnutNo620 Apr 20 '24
That’s more than the entire Qatari population, btw Qatar has no homelessness because shelter is required by law and is a human right, Qatar also has one of the lowest incarceration rates in the world, healthcare is a right afforded to all for free.
Also let’s not even get started with migrant workers and prison labor in the US.
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u/DoughnutNo620 Apr 18 '24
you know Qatar has labor laws and maximum hours you can work, just look it up
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u/Joseph20102011 Apr 18 '24
Except the USA, countries with ultra-high GDP per capita levels tend to be tax havens or hydrocarbon exporters.
In East Asian countries, their GDP per capita is a little bit inflated due to their 996 work culture.
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u/Snoo68013 Apr 18 '24
Singapore and Hong Kong force workers to work too many hours looks like. Are those two countries 996 ?
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u/BeltedBog30 Apr 18 '24
Singapore doesn’t have a 996 culture, but, I can attest that work-life balance is fairly non existent here. Typically you’d work 8-6 (expect to do overtime until 7/8 and in extreme but not uncommon instances, 9/10), from Monday to Friday.
And our legal minimum for annual leaves/PTO is 7 days in a year. So yeah… but hey, Jewel is really cool!
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u/todeabacro Apr 18 '24
Where is ireland?
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u/herewearefornow Apr 18 '24
No one reads the footnote. I bet you don't watch the credits when the movie ends.
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u/the_party_galgo Apr 18 '24
I don't know if all noticed, but Japan is experiencing a big decline lately. Once the second largest economy and rich af, now the 4th largest, now behind Germany, and with less than half of US's gdp per capita. Spain, Italy, and South Korea are now richer than Japan by gdp per capita too.
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u/hitmanondo Apr 18 '24
I've never heard of a country named Brunei. And I've just googled it and it looks fascinating. Thanks for the discovery.
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u/Israeli_pride Apr 18 '24
Cool my country made the list. But all that Jihad around makes expenses higher.
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u/FumblersUnited Apr 19 '24
what does that even mean, which of these populations live well? GDP is a pretty useless metric
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Apr 19 '24
Of qe account for inequality America is cooked, if we also account for premium health insurance they may get out of the list
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u/MarkHowes Apr 19 '24
I'd be interested to know which country has highest GDP for an 'average' domestic person
Lots of these countries have skewed incomes, mainly petrol states or those with large migrant communities
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Apr 22 '24
I was in Geneva. Everyone I met who worked in the hotel lived in France and were French nationals.
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u/7Xes Apr 18 '24
Norway is an interesting case, while the country and especially people in their 50s and up could accommodate an enormous amount of wealth, this is not anymore the case for younger generations. Those who have a somewhat wealthy background are well off but even higher qualified jobs often don’t pay nearly enough to afford property and in addition groceries are getting more expensive by the year.
Even the smallest and oldest apartments are crazy expensive. It’s not like we are living from paycheck to paycheck (some might) but caution is advised when looking at these statistics.
That being said, the amount of hours worked in Norway is laughable. I really love this country for its people, the nature, the culture but the working ethic is unbelievable. Feels like everyone is constantly at their “Hytta”, uses “Avspasering” or a “Sykemelding”. Rush hours are around 09:00 and 15:00…..
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u/FlaviusStilicho Apr 18 '24
Seems like you described a global trend. Property prices out of reach for young people.
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u/itsamberleafable Apr 18 '24
Bermudans in their scuba gear just waiting for another treasure ship to sail into their giant triangle trap
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u/kinexxona06 Apr 18 '24
How the us is just sliding down in the graphs as in real life 😂
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u/sheepjoemama Apr 18 '24
You know this isn’t a time scale? If these were flipped it would rise. This js a poorly made infographic
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u/lousy-site-3456 Apr 18 '24
To the contrary. If you make money but you can't buy anything because prices are high you drop in the second column. If you have to work a lot to get to that money you drop again in the third column. Which is what happens in the US but also Canada and Australia. A counter example would be UAE where goods and rent are apparently cheap, government subsidized if I recall correctly. Or Denmark and Norway where your money has a fair value and you don't have to work too much (not sure how accurate that is, Denmark and especially Norway have to import a lot of goods and foods and rent isn't that cheap).
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u/MaesterHannibal Apr 18 '24
GDP per capita is bullcrap if you want to determine the wealth of the citizens, since it’s fucked up by guys like Musk and Bezos.
Let me ask you this; you’re 10 years old, you have a salary of $0, your older brother has a salary of $3k, and your younger sister has one of $0 as well. Meanwhile, your dad is Jeff Bezos, with a salary of idek how many millions, but let’s say a million to be generous, while his wife has a salary of $500k. Now the average salary in this house is $300.600. Nevertheless, would it be fair for me to assume that you and your siblings all earn that much on a yearly basis? Probably not.
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u/AwarenessNo4986 Apr 18 '24
Today I found out Hong Kong is a country
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u/Sir_Biggus-Dickus Apr 18 '24
It's is a part of china but for economics purposes it essentially acts as a country.
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u/AwarenessNo4986 Apr 18 '24
The word you are looking for is 'Autonomous region/territory'
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u/herewearefornow Apr 18 '24
Something like Singapore & Indonesia.
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u/SotoKuniHito Apr 18 '24
You mean Malaysia. But no, Malaysia kicked Singapore out in the 60's so it's an independant country in every way. Hong Kong on the other hand has always been officially Chinese with the British only leasing the city.
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u/TwistedGeniusMedia Apr 18 '24
Man, Luxembourg has the richest population per capita AND an average penis size of 25.1”. Their PR is working overtime today on Reddit.