National wealth

National (net) wealth, also net wealth (in Singapore), national net worth, gross national wealth (GNW), and total national wealth, is the total sum value of monetary assets minus liabilities of a given nation. It refers to the total value of wealth possessed by the citizens of a nation at a set point in time.^[1] This figure is an important indicator of a nation's ability to take on debt and sustain spending, and is influenced by not only real estate prices, but also by the stock market, human resources, technological advancements which may create new assets or render others worthless, national infrastructure and exchange rates. 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 US data following the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent economic recovery.

Differences by country

• In Taiwan, Gross national wealth and net national wealth are two different measures.
• In the USA, the figure regularly reported by the Federal Reserve of the US is household net worth, and includes corporations as they are essentially owned by American households. The United States Federal Reserve previously published the figure total national wealth in the past.^[2] However, this figure ignores the current balance of accumulated borrowing and assets of the federal and state governments.
• Japan publishes two figures, gross national assets and net national assets. By gross national assets, Japan reports a figure of 7954 trillion yen ($103 trillion), but claims liabilities of 5242 trillion ($68 trillion) for a net 2712 trillion in 2009.^[3] However, these numbers are suspiciously large compared with GDP, only liabilities that could be worth that amount given Japan's ultra low reliance on foreign debt (in government and private sectors) is future promises of healthcare and pension for its aging citizens. Therefore, Japan compiles extra figures (which other nations do not compile) and makes their figures less meaningful to compare with other nations.

The following table are estimates for 30 largest countries by net national wealth from 2000 to 2015 made by Credit Suisse in October 2015.^[4]

The 30 Largest Countries by Net National Wealth (in billions USD)

Rank	Country	2000	Country	2005	Country	2010	Country	2015
	World	117,225	World	171,577	World	216,374	World	250,145
1	United States	42,941	United States	59,664	United States	57,114	United States	85,901
2	Japan	19,316	Japan	18,143	Japan	23,474	China	22,817
3	United Kingdom	7,184	United Kingdom	11,026	China	17,505	Japan	19,837
4	Germany	5,800	France	9,537	France	13,441	United Kingdom	15,601
5	Italy	5,497	Italy	9,054	Germany	12,303	France	12,697
6	China	4,664	Germany	8,970	United Kingdom	11,827	Germany	11,939
7	France	4,566	China	8,674	Italy	11,619	Italy	10,025
8	Canada	2,469	Canada	4,277	Canada	6,212	Canada	6,872
9	Spain	2,045	Spain	4,003	Australia	5,389	Australia	6,174
10	Taiwan	1,807	Australia	3,066	Spain	4,526	Spain	4,195
11	Australia	1,432	South Korea	2,149	India	3,788	Taiwan	3,592
12	Netherlands	1,286	India	2,142	Brazil	3,181	South Korea	3,545
13	Switzerland	1,284	Taiwan	1,989	Taiwan	3,122	Switzerland	3,491
14	India	1,163	Netherlands	1,852	South Korea	2,791	India	3,447
15	Belgium	1,153	Switzerland	1,715	Russia	2,581	Brazil	2,436
16	South Korea	1,089	Belgium	1,696	Switzerland	2,498	Netherlands	2,379
17	Mexico	987	Mexico	1,600	Netherlands	2,374	Sweden	2,294
18	Sweden	849	Sweden	1,342	Mexico	2,234	Belgium	2,189
19	Brazil	824	Brazil	1,224	Belgium	2,121	Mexico	1,957
20	Hong Kong	597	Russia	1,219	Sweden	1,805	Indonesia	1,460
21	Argentina	582	Turkey	1,085	Indonesia	1,681	Austria	1,335
22	Austria	563	Austria	954	Turkey	1,256	New Zealand	1,320
23	Greece	493	Greece	904	Austria	1,221	Russia	1,284
24	Turkey	483	New Zealand	833	Norway	1,164	Norway	1,217
25	Denmark	427	Norway	731	New Zealand	1,067	Singapore	1,091
26	Portugal	379	Indonesia	716	Greece	944	Hong Kong	1,074
27	Norway	368	Denmark	712	Denmark	924	Denmark	1,061
28	Israel	355	Hong Kong	684	Singapore	888	Turkey	1,025
29	Singapore	326	Portugal	621	Poland	766	Israel	791
30	Russia	315	Finland	550	Portugal	756	Greece	743

The following table indicates the share of global wealth of the ten largest countries by net national wealth at given years. The share of global wealth of a country with 5% or more of global wealth at a given year is emboldened.

Share of global wealth of the ten largest countries by net national wealth at given years (%)

Year	Australia	Canada	China	France	Germany	Italy	Japan	Spain	Taiwan	United Kingdom	United States	Aggregate Share of Top 10
2000	-	2.1%	4.0%	3.9%	5.0%	4.7%	16.5%	1.7%	1.5%	6.1%	36.7%	82.2%
2001	-	2.1%	4.4%	4.0%	5.0%	4.7%	14.3%	1.8%	1.6%	6.1%	37.6%	81.6%
2002	-	2.0%	5.1%	4.8%	5.6%	5.5%	14.1%	2.0%	1.6%	6.5%	33.8%	81.0%
2003	1.7%	2.2%	5.2%	5.3%	5.9%	5.8%	13.3%	2.3%	-	6.6%	32.1%	80.4%
2004	1.8%	2.2%	5.0%	5.9%	5.9%	5.9%	12.0%	2.4%	-	6.9%	32.0%	80.0%
2005	1.8%	2.5%	5.1%	5.6%	5.2%	5.3%	10.6%	2.3%	-	6.4%	34.9%	79.7%
2006	1.9%	2.4%	5.8%	6.0%	5.5%	5.5%	9.3%	2.5%	-	7.0%	32.8%	78.7%
2007	2.1%	2.7%	7.0%	6.4%	5.8%	5.7%	8.4%	2.6%	-	6.8%	29.3%	76.8%
2008	1.9%	2.4%	6.8%	6.7%	6.4%	6.1%	11.8%	2.4%	-	5.1%	27.5%	77.1%
2009	2.2%	2.7%	7.8%	6.5%	6.2%	6.1%	10.8%	2.4%	-	5.7%	26.0%	76.4%
2010	2.5%	2.9%	8.1%	6.2%	5.7%	5.4%	10.8%	2.1%	-	5.5%	26.4%	75.6%
2011	2.8%	2.8%	8.5%	6.0%	5.4%	5.0%	12.5%	1.9%	-	4.8%	26.7%	76.4%
2012	2.9%	3.0%	8.3%	5.8%	5.4%	4.8%	10.8%	1.9%	-	5.0%	28.2%	76.1%
2013	2.6%	2.8%	8.5%	5.8%	5.5%	4.7%	8.6%	1.9%	-	5.4%	31.4%	77.2%
2014	2.7%	2.9%	8.1%	5.8%	5.3%	4.6%	8.9%	1.9%	-	5.8%	30.9%	76.9%
2015	2.5%	2.7%	9.1%	5.1%	4.8%	4.0%	7.9%	1.7%	-	6.2%	34.3%	78.3%

See also

• Affluence in the United States
• Wealth in the United States
• List of countries by financial assets per capita

References

1. http://eng.stat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=9357&ctNode=1641
2. http://www.nber.org/chapters/c2072.pdf
3. http://www.asyura2.com/11/senkyo106/msg/858.html
4. http://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=C26E3824-E868-56E0-CCA04D4BB9B9ADD5 Page: 31-94

External links

• National wealth of national blocks estimated by Credit Suisse