Measures of national wealth use several yardsticks. The wealthiest by GDP is the U.S. at $19.5 trillion. The GDP per capita of Liechtenstein is the highest in the world at $180,227. But its population is only about 50,000 people. Forbes reports that the U.S. has the most billionaires among all nations at 724, followed by China at 626.

We used a different measure. To determine the richest country in the world, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on gross national income per capita for 193 countries and special regions with available data from the World Bank.

Many of the richest countries in the world benefit from having large multinational corporations headquartered within their borders. Even if these companies earn money overseas, that income is counted towards the gross national income of the country where that business is based.

The world economic landscape has shifted to be increasingly more globalized and interconnected. As a result, many companies, including many that are headquartered in one of the nations on this list, have extended their footprint into dozens of countries and grown their valuation to tens of billions of dollars.

Other countries among the world’s richest are so financially well off because they have an important natural resource, generally oil, that is valuable and abundant enough to create many billions of dollars worth of economic activity. Conversely, many others have very large and diverse economies that excel in a number of different fields.

Living in a wealthy country comes with numerous advantages, perhaps most importantly is health. Those in countries with high incomes are generally able to get access to healthy food and health care and generally have very low maternal and child mortality. Most rich nations have a higher average life expectancy than the world average life expectancy.

The richest country in the world is Macau. Here are the details:

> GNI per capita: $117,340
> 2020 GDP: $37.5 billion
> Population: 649,342
> Avg. life expectancy at birth: 84.2 years

Macau is by far the richest country in the world, with a GNI per capita of $117,340 — nearly $100,000 higher than the worldwide GNI per capita and almost $30,000 more than the next closest country. Macau also ranks as one of the world’s healthiest countries with an average life expectancy at birth at 84.2 years, the third-longest in the world.

A special administrative region of China located at China’s southern tip, Macau is known as the gambling capital of the world. Its economy relies heavily on tourism, though it is also considered a tax haven as foreign earnings are not taxed.

Methodology: To determine the richest country in the world, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on gross national income per capita for 193 countries and special regions with available data from the World Bank. The World Bank estimates GNI per capita using the purchasing power parity method, and figures are in current international dollars. All data on GNI per capita is based on the most recent available year for a given country.

Additional data, measuring GDP in current international dollars, population, life expectancy at birth, and access to electricity also came from the World Bank. All data are for the most recent year available for every country.

We also considered data on levels of public sector corruption in 2020 from the nonprofit, international watchdog and anti-corruption group, Transparency International.

Click here to read The 25 Richest Countries in the World

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