How do you measure a country’s wealth? You could look at its gross domestic product or GDP, which shows how much money there is in the country but doesn’t take population into account. More accurate would be looking at the GDP per capita but a country with a high GDP per capita might have such a high cost of living that its people aren’t that rich at all.
If you use GDP based on purchasing power parity, or PPP, per capita, you can get a more accurate picture of how wealthy a country is because you also take into account inflation rates and the cost of local goods and services. Using this measure and data from the International Monetary Fund and Global Finance, we present the 20 richest countries in the world in 2022.
By the way, there is one newcomer to the list since its last update in 2021, displacing Australia. While Canada retained its standing in 24th place for a third year in a row, its PPP went up to $57,812 from $48,720 (it was $50,626 the year before). Another trend we’re seeing? It’s taking more money to make the top 20. In 2021, the Australia in 20th spot had a GDP (PPP) of $51,680 per capita. In 2022, it takes $62,926 to make the cut-off.

20. Sweden

19. Germany

18. Andorra

17. Iceland

16. Austria

15. Netherlands

14. Taiwan

13. Denmark

12. San Marino

11. Hong Kong

10. Brunei

9. United States

8. Norway

7. United Arab Emirates

6. Switzerland

5. Macau

4. Qatar

3. Ireland

2. Singapore
