Richest and poorest countries in the world as of 2010 based on GDP (PPP) per capita

Global Finance has come out with a report to rank out the world's richest and poorest countries in 2010, based on their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) per capita.

The top 20 ranking (richest) are:

• 1. Qatar (90,149)
• 2. Luxembourg (79,411)
• 3. Norway (52,964)
• 4. Singapore (52,840)
• 5. Brunei Darussalam (48,714)
• 6. United States (47,702)
• 7. Hong Kong (44,840)
• 8. Switzerland (43,903)
• 9. Netherlands (40,601)
• 10. Australia (39,841)
• 11. Austria (39,561)
• 12. Canada (39,037)
• 13. Ireland (39,009)
• 14. Kuwait (38,984)
• 15. Iceland (36,750)
• 16. Sweden (36,503)
• 17. Denmark (36,336)
• 18. United Arab Emirates (36,176)
• 19. Belgium (35,825)
• 20. United Kingdom (35,083)

And the bottom 20 ranking (poorest) are:

• 164. Haiti (1,212)
• 165. Rwanda (1,195)
• 166. Comoros (1,161)
• 167. Guinea-Bissau (1,081)
• 168. Ethiopia (1,004)
• 169. Afghanistan (996)
• 170. Guinea (996)
• 171. Mozambique (981)
• 172. Malawi (925)
• 173. Madagascar (905)
• 174. Togo (832)
• 175. Sierra Leone (781)
• 176. Central African Republic (764)
• 177. Niger (733)
• 178. Eritrea (676)
• 179. Liberia (434)
• 180. Burundi (410)
• 181. Zimbabwe (365)
• 182. Congo (342)

The number in brackets above is the GDP (PPP) per capita of the respective country in current international dollars (a.k.a. Geary-Khamis dollars), which compares generalized differences in living standards on the whole between them.

PPP takes into account the relative cost of living and the inflation rates of countries, rather than using just exchange rates, which may distort the real differences in income.

Under this scheme, China, which ranked the 1st in terms of GDP growth at the same period, only gets a 96th with GDP (PPP) of 7,240. This somehow shows the reality that although the economy in China is blooming, they still have a long way to go to get on top of the list.


The ranking and GDP (PPP) of the BRIC nations are:

• 52. Russian Federation (15,738)
• 73. Brazil (11,066)
• 96. China (7,240)
• 128. India (3,176)

And the ranking of ASEAN nations are:

• 4. Singapore(52,840) 
• 5. Brunei Darussalam (48,714)
• 59. Malaysia (14,275)
• 90. Thailand (8,479)
• 122. Indonesia (4,380)
• 127. Philippines (3,604)
• 129. Vietnam (3,104)
• 139. Laos (2,401)
• 146. Cambodia (2,084)
• 159. Myanmar(1,244)

The report concluded that "Poverty remains extensive throughout the world, particularly in south Asia and Africa. A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University reports that the richest 1% of adults owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000 (their most recent figures), and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. The bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth. World Bank Development Indicators reported in 2008 that in 2005 (their most recent figures) 1.4 billion people lived on $1.25 a day or less (US$ PPP); almost 15% of the world’s population, or nearly 1 billion people, lived on $1 a day or less."

Click here to read the Global Finance's report on world's richest and poorest countries. You can also see the full ranking list there.