Chinese are now richer than Europeans as Australians named richest in the world

The average person in China is now richer than their European counterparts after turbocharged economic growth in the country.

The average person in China is now richer than their European counterparts after stratospheric economic growth in the nation.

An adult in China on average has a net worth of US$26,752 (AU$40,980), while the average person in Europe is worth US$26,690 (AU$40,885).

The figures for Europe take into account the whole continent, including nations considered poorer in the south and east.

People in China on average are worth four times more than people in Russia, where the median wealth was US$6379 in 2021.

The average wealth of people in China has grown faster than anywhere else on Earth, rising eight-fold in the past 20 years, from US$3111 in 2000 to US26,690 in 2021.

China’s nominal GDP is an estimated to be between $14 trillion and $19 trillion — second only behind the United States

But people in China are still lagging way behind their American and Australian counterparts — on average.

Australians, meanwhile, are the richest people in the world, thanks in large part to huge rises in house prices and forced savings through superannuation.

Credit Suisse report finds Australia has largest median wealth in the world of $419k

The typical Aussie adult has a median net worth of US$273,900 (A$419,577), more than any other country on earth.

That’s according to a research paper released by global banking giant Credit Suisse earlier this week, called the 2021 Global Wealth Report.

Second on the list was Belgium, where half the population had a personal wealth above US$267,890 (A$410,370), and then New Zealand, which came in at US$231,260 (AU$354,258).

Despite having the world’s biggest economy, the US came in 18th, with US$93,270 (AU142,876) per person its halfway mark for net worth.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the report found that wealth gap has continued to widen internationally in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the rich get richer and the less affluent get poorer.

Nowhere was this more evident than in New Zealand, with each person’s wealth increasing by US$57,920 (A$88,725) in the space of one year.

In Australia, wealth increased by US$28,450 (A$43,581) per adult.

It’s worth noting the report’s authors calculated median wealth by dividing the wealth distribution into two equal groups where half the adults have wealth above the median and the other half below the median.

Both Australian and New Zealand property markets had an unprecedented year in 2021, however prices have been falling since.

Australia is among the richest people in the world.

The report also measured average wealth, which was calculated by dividing the total amount of wealth by the number of adults in each country.

Australia was not in the top spot in that regard, indicating a wealth gap. Switzerland came out first, with a mean wealth of US$696,600 (A$1.067 million).

The US was second, with US$579,050 (A$887,025), followed by Hong Kong at US$552,930 (A$847013).

Australia came in fourth at US$550,110 (A$842693).

The discrepancy between Australia’s median and average wealth points to inequality, as the wealthiest one per cent of Australians held 21.8 per cent of the country’s wealth in 2021.

Credit Suisse found the world’s millionaire population was turbocharged in 2021, as the total number of millionaires stood at 62.5 million by the end of the year.

Globally, the total amount of wealth hit US$458 trillion (A$$703 trillion) at the end of last year, jumping 9.8 per cent compared to the previous year.

Originally published as Chinese are now richer than Europeans as Australians named richest in the world