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They work less, they look great and now it turns out that the French – and citizens of six other countries - are richer than us, too.
The average wealth per American adult hit $236,213 in 2010, according to Credit Suisse. That’s a 23 percent increase over a decade ago, but leaves us far behind No. 1 Switzerland, which surged 60 percent over the past decade to an average of $372,692 per adult.
The U.S., which ranked No. 2 in average wealth behind Switzerland a decade ago, has been surpassed since then by rapidly growing Norway, Australia, Singapore, France and Sweden, according to Credit Suisse.
Credit Suisse defined wealth as all assets, including real estate, minus debt such as bank loans.
Is all that wine and joie de vivre actually making the French more productive? Maybe so – as Business Insider points out, renowned workhorses Germany and Japan don’t even crack the top 10.
Thanks to Econompic Data, which created this graphic based on data from Credit Suisse.
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Within the last week I read an article on MSNBC that stated something like 20% of Americans have a net worth of nothing or less. And now I see in this article that the average American is worth $236,000? What type of average are they talking about? Clearly not the mode or median. It must be based off of the mean. This is only indicative of the huge disparity of wealth in our country. It is nothing to be proud about. Shame on us.
Average = mean always.
Does anyone know what the median is? That would tell us that 50% have more than the median and 50% have less. If the average/mean is higher than the median doesn't that say that there a few at the top that have huge amounts of wealth...and isn't that what we really have?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income
CountryMedian household income national currency unitsYearPPP rate (OECD)Median household income (PPP)
Switzerland[4]
(gross) 109,236 CHF, $100,387
2008
1.68375
$64,877
Canada [6]
(After tax) 63,900 CAD
2008
1.23
$51,951
United States [5]
49,777 USD
2009
1.00
$49,777
Switzerland[4]
(after taxes and health insurance) 77,580 CHF, $71,296
2008
1.640256
$47,297
Australia[7]
66,890 AUD
2007/2008
1.5162805
$44,115
New Zealand [8]
63,867 NZD
2008/2009
1.5881895
$40,214
United Kingdom [9]
24,700 GBP
2004
0.632
$39,000
Israel[10]
107,820 ILS
2006
2.90
$37,000
Ireland
35,410 EUR
2005
1.02
$35,000
Scotland,
United Kingdom[11]
21,892 GBP
2005
0.649
$34,000
Hong Kong[12]
186,000 HKD
2005
5.96
$31,000
Singapore[13]
45,960 SGD
2005
1.55
$30,000
Ripped off wikipedia. Hope it shows up right. Some of the countries in the graph are shown.
While those figures were correct when they were written, the US Dollar is down heavily against most all foreign currencies today. The Swiss Franc is now worth more than our Dollar, (approx 1.04), the Australian Dollar is also worth considerably more today, (approx .99) and so is the Canadian Dollar, (also approx .99). I know that I haven't received a raise on my job since the Spring of 2006, despite the cost of our company medical insurance doubling since then, and despite the fact that my electric and natural gas bills are also up 50% since then too. Have you looked at the price of tires for the pickup at Walmart recently? The same ones that I bought 18 months ago are now 40% more each, and even the cottage cheese that I buy, (a US-made product), is up approx 15% in the last two years too. I travel a fair amount and I know that fuel costs are higher to much higher than they are here at home in Denver, where yesterday I paid $2.47 per gallon for regular unleaded gas. Just a few weeks ago in Michigan the price of gas was $2.89, and in southern California in August it was just over $3.00 per gallon. Since then the price of a barrel of crude has continued to rise in contrast to the value of our Dollar against foreign currencies. What is the Japanese Yen at now, close to 81 to the Dollar? Imagine where it would be if the Japanese government hadn't intervened a few weeks ago?
If the slide in the value of the Dollar continues on the average of the last couple of months until Christmas there are going to be a lot less rich people left in America, and at least here where I live our slowest time of the year is between February and May. I sure hope that the Fed will print some more money by then, or there isn't going to be too much left for the average American citizen to spend.
According to the Survey of Consumer Finances (Federal Reserve) the median "family" net worth in 2007 was $120,300. 2010 figures are being compiled now as the survey is taken every three years. Assuming 2 adults in each family that leaves us with a median net worth per adult of $60,150. I doubt if an inflation adjustment would move the median up all that much from 2007. So if this article says that the average adult is worth $236,000+ there are clearly some people at the top worth a whole lot of money.
Why don't they also do a survey exlcuding the top 10% wealthiest. I think that would be a more accurate measurement since that top 10% won big time this past decade while the rest of us are fighting to keep what little we have have left. I'd also love to see the disparity between the gains the rich made and the gains everyone else made. This shouldn't be a spotlight on how we fare against other nations, this study instead should spotlight the differences between the haves and have-nots around the world.
If we knew how much they stole from us, we'd probably cut off their heads, like in the French Revolution. That was the great equalizer of the haves vs. have-nots.
Besides debt, it is also worth noting that this "wealth" thing includes real estate assets, and housing in many European countries is far more expensive than here. Even within this country there are huge disparities. A man worth $500,000 in Houston or Indianapolis has probably a far bigger estate and more other assets than a man worth $500,000 in San Francisco or Boston. Same with the international comparison. A family that lives in a $250,000, 4/3 house in Plano, TX is probably "less wealthy" per this measure than a family that lives in a $600,000 2/2 house in Zurich, and yet the Plano family is probably much better off.
There are so many factors playing into the wealth equation in a comparison across different nations that these statistics are practically rendered meaningless.
This is exactly why I don't trust the Wall Street crowd or their banking/lending counterparts. If your estate is worth $500,000, and you die. Your kin are going to get $500,000 no matter what part of the country your in. $500,000 is $500,000 in Indianapolis, or Houston! This is the same type of garbage used by those who suckered people into buying homes they couldn't afford!
So... average American family with 4 members should have wealth of around 1 million dollars. I don't get it.
No, it's the average wealth per adult. The median measure would probably be more accurate in this case anyway these numbers are probably skewed.
The interesting thing is that most of the countries that have an average wealth above ours also have government health care coverage. Maybe socialism really isn't such a bad system and should'nt put the fear of God into us like conservatives would like us to believe. I know it's hard for American's to believe but a number of countries have a higher standard of living for it's citizens.
Americans have bought into the Republican fear-mongering which has only put money in the pockets of the already wealthy and taken it out of the pockets of the ordinary citizen. You can thank Dick Cheney for that. Your country is on a downward spiral. Right now, the US dollar is in a dive. But your lack of education and your ignorance about the rest of the world is holding you down. You live in a bubble in which you think you are the most superior people on the planet. These charts should teach you something about yourselves. The top three countries have government healthcare. The US has FEAR of government healthcare. That's not hard to figure out.
Slipping in rankings....this administration is succeeding in their endeavors.
if you look at the chart the slip started in 2000 not two years ago. it seems that the present gov gets blamed for things that happened eight years before they came into office. we need to look at why not who is president
Hmm, if they had instead measure where we stood two years ago (at the end of the Bush administration), guess what? We would have been dramatically worse off.
Why is it that repeatedly there are Republicans that try and make us forget the absolutely sorry state the last administration left this country in!!!!!!!! At the end of 2008, we were sliding into a massive chasm of despair. We must never forget that!
The Beev: look again at the chart - it covers the last ten years; i.e., the BUSH ADMINISTRATION. Obviously, you were educated in the US otherwise you'd have been able to understand what you were looking at.
What's better; one man fishing and selling his fish or ten men fishing and selling their fish? Today it seems that the lone fisherman has gotten the village bully to keep everyone else from fishing and now sells his fish at ridiculous prices to the rest of the villagers (of course the bully gets his fish for free). This is what passes for free competition in America today and we wonder why we are falling so far behind. A highly educated workforce in a free and open marketplace can not be beat yet we seem to have loss sight of that notion.
The very reason why the corporate powers have worked hard to dumb down our education system. In places like France, they all understand that if the retirement age is raised, hundreds of thousands of people will added to the work force, raising unemployment and lowering wages. If you have more people vying for the same job, the employer can, and will, lower the wage.
Or, if you increase the retirement age, you keep the most skilled and knowledgable workers in the workforce longer and make society as a whole wealthier...
Oh wait, in socialist nations you vote for wealth, not work for it. Sorry.
Keep protesting France. Eventually you won't have to work at all.
You're obviously someone with no economic worries. Good for you. In my opinion you're out of touch and a bit arrogant to say the least.
It's not entirely fair to the Germans since they are still assimilating the very poor East Germans. It will be another 20 years or so before the average German wealth approaches the average "former West German" wealth. If you factor out the East Germans, then the remaining Germans push us down yet another notch. (And it was a conscious decision by the German people and government to dilute the overall German wealth by taking in their destitute brothers.)
You're right. Imagine if the United States were too entirely integrate Mexico, we would fall of the map and at least Mexico was moderately capitalist and not communist like East Germany.
I did not mean this in any way to demean Germany. I believe that they was that they have handled reunification was correct and even very noble. People tend to remember Cain's question in Genesis, "Am I my brother's keeper?" but forget that God's answer was, "Yes!"
I am not surprised at the findings since the trend is US companies shipping our jobs overseas instead of having compassion for the American people.
If 20% have a net worth of zero or less, and only 2% make more than $250,000, in order to get an average like that, there must be a few very, very, very, very rich people out there.
This article is about wealth, not simply income!
You are right. Look into it. I believe (something like) the top 2% of Americans earn or control 90% of the wealth/income in this country. It is obscene, and it is only getting worse (the recent history of the widening gap between haves and have-nots is sad). But even those at the top should realize, that when -- like now -- the middle class has less money to spend, the whole economy starts to sputter. Spreading the wealth more equitably might actually enrich the rich!
YEAH we have people out there making BILLIONS so that takes a considerable weight off the "common" man he doesn't have to make anything at all the to keep the median up
Now the solution to decreasing wealth is for middle class to get rid of union and worker protection, and further deregulate the financial sector right....
I love this! For the past six months I have heard nothing but a bunch of uneducated idiots screaming that social programs and taxes will ruin our country. Take a look at the countries that are passing us... They have more entitlement programs and higher taxes. And yet, their citizens are faring better. And not just a few at the top, but the majority in the middle are better off than we are. I would think that this should shut up the mindless tea baggers, but after reading comments from people like Beev it is clear that they refuse to understand. I can pity stupid by birth, but stupid by choice is unforgivable!
Isn't it interesting how the poor and middle class keep getting duped by the right into voting against their own interests. Fear works against the less educated.
"The Beev"....DID you read the article & look at the Graph 2000 to 2010, Obama did not take office until 2009. The two financial stituations which were most responsible for the loss of most of the wealth, the dotcom bubble and the housing bubble both took place before Obama took office.
If you've never travelled to Europe please do so. Your trip will put to rest any idea that the United States is by far the best place to live
. I love the United States because of its natural wonders and open space but if business has a free hand we will look more like China in no time. Lots and lots of people cramped into tiny spaces.
We need moderate regulations, one payor healthcare for all (make it a tax), "fair" and equal trade and penalties for shipping jobs overseas. That is the only way we have a chance to spend more money on educating our children then we spend putting them in jail.
I live in China. Do I know you?
Nice analysis there, Beev. Since the study shows the difference over the last ten years, your blaming the current administration that has been in office 21 months makes perfect sense. You are confirming my hypothesis that most Republicans are horrible at math and at logic!
It goes right along with calling Democrats "big spenders", while ignoring the fact that over the last 50 years, federal government spending has increased at a faster rate when Republicans are President than when Democrats are President. Again, the facts just aren't relevant to your thought process. I'm sure you'll have some sort of snappy ad hominem attack to make, rather than addressing the facts....
Dust4, average does not equal mean, average is a middle point description. So median is also a description of average, just as mode is a middle point description. In this context, median and arithmetic mean both are accurate descriptions and will provide a very informative picture of wealth. I suspect that the mode would be 0, so looking at a histogram would be interesting also.
Heartlight3, the $250K number for the top 2% is income, not wealth.
Yeah you're right about average, my mistake.
If we paid down our debts this country would find itself climbing this list.
Scary! It is not a bright outlook. I guess I should be thankful that I have lived beyond my mid-life. From here on it is down hill. I am glad I got to enjoy the world while I was still young. I am in my early 40's so I still have a bit of living to do. But I know that the good times in this country, this life are almost over.
The U.S. has had 10 years of no economic growth, the worst decade for business in the country's history. It's tempting to blame Republicans, since they were in charge most of that time. But it's hard to figure out what they did to cause it. Arguably, cutting taxes and running up the deficit did not produce the magic "trickle down" effect that was supposed to make us all rich. They even started a couple of wars, which in the past have been good for business (see WWII). But nobody seemed to make money off of them (except for Chaney's Halliburton, of course, but we won't go there today). It could all just be coincidence.
We have moved manufacturing out of the US. Manufacturing is the way in which wealth is created!!!!!! Nobody seems to get just how important it is to create wealth. Too many generations of Americans have grown up brainwashed into believing that wealth is an intrinsic right that Americans just have. But that isn't the way economics works - wealth has to be created constantly. By knocking down labor unions (which they largely deserved), by moving manufacturing overseas, and by building a society reliant on borrowing (a false way to generate wealth), we have undermined the middle class. Today we have a nation controlled by greedy executives and corrupt politicians. The failed economic policies of the past 40 years have been hidden behind massive government and consumer borrowing. And by hiding the real failings of our economy, we have built up generation after generation of "entitlement" kids that are ignorant, lazy, and lacking the critical thinking skills necessary to lead us out of this mess. So how do we get out of this mess? I honestly don't know - but I think a good way would be to eliminate the hyper-partisan two party system we have in which two groups of corrupt politicians battle each other over the merits of failed ideologies and irrelevant issues (such as gay marriage) rather than getting down and actually solving the real world problems that are destroying us.
I agree with you, GVC-the USA has been living off its good credit created on the wealth and prosperity of its past, but one day in the not too distant future the credit will no longer be available to our nation and then what?
We also don't fair well when it comes to how democratic a country is - I believe we are the 18th most democratic country out of the 30 true democracies in the world. That is a pretty miserable showing. Basically, we're a rapidly declining country - and this is being brought on by a country controlled by special interests and the rich. The rest of the people are left ignorant and poor. Unfortunately, that opens the populace to increasing manipulation by the rich and powerful. If there is any better example of how this is playing out - just take a look at how Rupert Murdoch is using his tabloid new organization to influence the vote by the ignorant!!!!! It is so sad that I am considering leaving this rotten country and finding new opportunities in places that stupid people like Sarah Palin and the rest of the Tea Party and GOP know nothings can't reach.
It couldn't be said any better!
And yes, I believe there will be and exodus out of this country. Some people have just had enough!
GCV: Well stated. I have fought against the greed and cold blooded evil that is desyroying our country for many years. So many times I have been told I should leave the country of my birth and and the place I risk my young life for. Now, i'm a very old man and if that were not so, I would take thier advice and go to a more civilized country. It is hard to live where the power structure has made a religion of greed and a God out of money. They have succeded in making loyal followers out of many. By the way,Canada is already having problems with too many Americans pouring across thier border. Best regards from your fellow fed up American.
I wonder if the author has ever been to France. They hate exercise and their diet - forget about it!
No matter what your political bias about what happened economically and where we should going, middle class money in this country was invested in 401k, etc. and their homes. The 2 things this recession has impacted the most. So that is reflected in this over simplified graph.
While these data are interesting, I think a more interesting question is which countries enjoy a higher quality of life. Certainly wealth has something to do with. For those with too little money life is tough. For those with too much money the money can corrupt ones soul.
How would the disparity between the poor and wealthy in the USA compare with these other countries? There is probably a wider gap in the USA. The distribution of wealth here is far from even.
Let's also consider societal factors in quality of life. The USA offers great medical treatments and facilities but its health care system does a poor job delivering such services efficiently and cost-effectively, and offers the least to the youngest and poorest in our population. Compared to so many advanced nations the USA has such high rates of infant mortality, homicide, crime, incarceration, obesity, teen pregnancy and many other social ills.
Money can't buy happiness. Until our society changes its values, we will never enjoy the success of our own wealth. We seem to value debt, violent entertainment, a constant state of fear, self-determination over social good, and a sense of entitlement to everything. Maybe some shared sacrifice would help matters?
Weeping for the usa: I regret to say you are totally right. The issues we are facing or of a moral and spiritual nature and should be treated as such. When the ceo of Disney made 600 million in salary and God knows what in bonuses he had children working in Haiti for 12 cents an hour. He is a disgrace to the human family and America is a disgrace for allowing our corporations to get away with such. THe man is a pig and should be treated as such. Ther are no winners when greed controls.
There are no sacred economic systems that are more important than people and thier life. The billionaire dies just like a hungry poor man, at that time the soul is all that matters. Thanks for your thoughtful post.
USA problem is the MEGA-RICH - people earning over $1million a year and net Worth's of $25 million & more are not being taxed enough...should be 3 times as much as now, and USA entitlements have ruined the work ethic and taxes of Corporations have ruined innovation. USA must change the policy of NOT dealing with any country that does not share our Politically correct view of Human Rights! China and other capitalists are laughing all the way to the bank while USA is going broke trying to Social Engineer the world!!
Best thing an individual can do is pay off debt and credit cards, and when you make a lot of money save a lot and spend very little. Try it sometime!!!
That's not true. Most people go into debt to get someone now so they don't have to go without something they want for many years by "saving up".
Example...Education, House, Car...are amoung the big items. And this will put them into debt for a loooong time (sometimes most thier lives).
But hey, you want to wait 20 years...be my guess. You will have nothing but money in the bank (for other ppl to borrow while the bank makes profit off it). Live like Scrouge and you basically have nothing except some number when you die.
The problem is NOT our "debt." The problem is that all of the spoils of Capitalism are being diverted to the Top 5% of the population. "Real" wages for the bottom 95% of the population are stagnant or falling. Many workers in the U.S. today make LESS THAN they did in the 1970's in "real" terms. They are working harder and are more efficient and productive - but they aren't seeing any rewards from that hard work or improved productivity - it's all going to the corporate elite !!!
Get a clue America.
Exactly that is the obvious problem.
debt is one dimension to our economic problem. another is a tax system that skewed toward protecting personal wealth rather than encouraging investment in job creating business. another is our failure to invest in infrastructure at a sufficient rate. another is our failure to invest in education. another is the huge drain on our economy from our overseas military commitments.