China
The U.S. and China Account for Half the World’s Household Wealth
The U.S. and China Account for Half the World’s Household Wealth
Measures like GDP are commonly used to understand the overall wealth and size of the economy. While looking at economic output on an annual basis is useful, there are other metrics to consider when evaluating the wealth of a nation.
Household wealth statistics reveal which country’s citizens are accruing the highest level of money and assets worldwide.
This visual utilizes data from Credit Suisse’s annual Global Wealth Report to break down the latest estimates for household wealth by country.
Household Wealth, by Country
Here’s how the world’s $463 trillion in household wealth is distributed:
| Rank | Country | Household Wealth (2022) | % of World Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 🇺🇸 United States | $145.8T | 31.5% |
| #2 | 🇨🇳 China | $85.1T | 18.4% |
| #3 | 🇯🇵 Japan | $25.7T | 5.5% |
| #4 | 🇩🇪 Germany | $17.5T | 3.8% |
| #5 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | $16.3T | 3.5% |
| #6 | 🇫🇷 France | $16.2T | 3.5% |
| #7 | 🇮🇳 India | $14.2T | 3.1% |
| #8 | 🇨🇦 Canada | $12.4T | 2.7% |
| #9 | 🇮🇹 Italy | $11.5T | 2.5% |
| #10 | 🇦🇺 Australia | $10.6T | 2.3% |
| #11 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | $10.1T | 2.2% |
| #12 | 🇪🇸 Spain | $8.4T | 1.8% |
| #13 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | $5.9T | 1.3% |
| #14 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | $5.4T | 1.2% |
| #15 | 🇨🇠Switzerland | $4.9T | 1.1% |
| Rest of World | $73.6T | 15.6% | |
| Total: | $463.6T | 100.0% |
As the table above demonstrates, global household wealth is far from being distributed equally.
Country-Level Wealth Concentration
Much of global wealth is concentrated in the biggest economies, with households in China and the U.S. combining to make up half of all personal wealth in the world. This differs slightly from using GDP as a measure, where the U.S. and China make up 24% and 19% of the world economy in nominal terms, respectively.
Today, just 10 countries account for 75% of total household wealth.
One of the biggest changes in recent years is the rise of wealth in China. A decade ago, China’s citizens were estimated to hold just 9% of the world’s wealth. That figure has now more than doubled, while median wealth in the country has skyrocketed from $3,111 to $26,752 between 2000 and 2021.
A Regional Look at Household Wealth
From a regional standpoint, wealth is equally split three ways, between North America, Asia, and everywhere else.
In just one decade, Europe’s share of household wealth dropped by eight percentage points, which is due, in part, to the economic momentum of China.
Surprisingly, the regions of Africa, South America, Oceania, and the Middle East combine only for about 11% of the world’s total household wealth.
Where does this data come from?
Source: Global Wealth Report by Credit Suisse
Data note: There is no straightforward way of estimating household wealth in various countries, so the report utilizes three main measures including: a country’s average level of wealth, the patterns of a country’s wealth holdings, and Forbes list of billionaires.
China
How Do Chinese Citizens Feel About Other Countries?
What is the Chinese public’s view of world powers? This visual breaks down Chinese sentiment towards other countries.
Public Opinion: How Chinese Citizens Feel About Other Countries
Tensions over Taiwan, the COVID-19 pandemic, trade, and the war in Ukraine have impacted Chinese sentiment towards other countries.
This visualization uses data from the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Tsinghua University to rank survey responses from the Chinese public on their attitudes towards countries and regions around the world.
Chinese Sentiment Towards Other Countries in 2023
In the Center’s opinion polls, which surveyed a random sample of more than 2,500 Chinese mainland adults in November 2022, Russia came out significantly ahead.
Just under 60% of respondents held Russia in a favorable view, with 19% seeing the country as “very favorable.” Contrast that to the mere 12% that viewed the U.S. in a positive light.
Here’s a closer look at the data. The percentages refer to the share of respondents that voted for said category.
| Country/Region | Very Unfavorable | Somewhat Unfavorable | Neutral | Somewhat Favorable | Very Favorable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 United States | 37.4% | 21.7% | 28.7% | 9.2% | 3.0% |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | 38.4% | 19.1% | 29.4% | 10.7% | 2.3% |
| 🇮🇳 India | 25.4% | 25.2% | 41.5% | 6.7% | 1.3% |
| 🇰🇷 South Korea | 17.4% | 21.0% | 47.6% | 11.8% | 2.1% |
| 🇪🇺 European Union | 9.3% | 15.6% | 57.6% | 14.1% | 3.3% |
| Southeast Asia | 7.1% | 13.1% | 59.5% | 16.8% | 3.5% |
| 🇷🇺 Russia | 3.0% | 4.8% | 33.7% | 39.4% | 19.0% |
Japan ranked just below the U.S. in terms of overall unfavorability, though a slightly higher share of respondents saw Japan as “very unfavorable” compared to America. This is likely due to both modern tensions in the East China Sea over mutually claimed islands and historical tensions over the Sino-Japanese Wars.
Chinese sentiment towards India was also unfavorable at just over 50%, though notably the country also received the lowest favorability rating at just 8%.
Additional Survey Findings
The survey also found that 39% of Chinese people get their information on international security from Chinese state-run media (mainly through TV), with an additional 19% getting information from government websites and official social accounts. Conversely, only 1.7% get their news from foreign websites and foreign social media, partially due to the Great Firewall.
When asked about different international security issues, the biggest shares of Chinese citizens ranked the following as their top three:
- Pandemics (12.9%)
- Disputes over territory and territorial waters (12.9%)
- China-U.S. relations (12.0%)
The pandemic’s high score reflects the harsher impact COVID-19 had on China. Chinese borders were shut for years and the public faced intense measures to reduce spread.
In terms of other world events, the majority of Chinese people align with a more “Eastern” viewpoint. For example, in regards to the war in Ukraine, the report found that:
“About 80 percent of the respondents believe the U.S. and Western countries should be held most accountable [for the war], while less than ten percent of the respondents argue that Russia is mainly responsible.”– Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University
Overall, the views of the Chinese public reflect the opposite of those found in many Western countries. They provide an important insight that it is not just the Chinese government holding particular views about the world, but the Chinese public as well.
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