Swiss remain the wealthiest people on the planet
Overall, planet Earth during the reporting period (from 2017 to 2018) became richer by 4.6%, earning a total wealth of 317 trillion dollars. This happened primarily due to Americans and Chinese, who significantly outpaced the rest of the world in terms of wealth growth rates.
In the US, over the past year, the total amount of disposable assets grew by 6.9% to a total of 98 trillion dollars. There, the growth of disposable assets has been continuous since 2008, both in aggregate terms and per capita.
China during this period firmly secured second place after the US in this indicator, with growth of 4.0% to a total of 52 trillion dollars. Moreover, as CS bank forecasts, by 2023 China will become richer overall by another 23 trillion dollars, after which its share in global wealth will rise from the current 16% to 19%, and the world itself will become richer by 23% to a total of 399 trillion dollars.
During the reporting period, Germany, Great Britain, and France also joined the group of 'winners' of the global wealth ranking. Each of these countries became richer by 1 trillion dollars.
Over the past 12 months, the value of assets with some material form of expression grew particularly actively. In China and Europe, they accounted for 75% of the total growth in the value of disposable assets, and in India this figure is at almost 100%.
As experts at Credit Suisse write, the global gap between rich and poor has also narrowed somewhat. If a year ago 9.5% of the world's population owned 86% of global wealth, today they own only 84%. And conversely: a year ago 91% of the world's population owned 16% of global wealth. This year this ratio remained the same, but the 'filling' of the percentages increased: previously those 16% were equivalent to 40 trillion dollars, and today – 50.4 trillion.
As for women, as Swissinfo.ch notes, they own 40% of the world's wealth. Throughout the 20th century, women on Earth became richer and richer, but since 2000 there has been a certain stagnation in this area.