Main Messages

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Global and Regional Trends in Wealth, 1995–2018

Glenn-Marie Lange, Diego Herrera, and Esther Naikal

Main Messages

• Global wealth—produced capital, renewable and nonrenewable natural capital, human capital, and net foreign assets—grew 91 percent from 1995, reaching

US$1,152 trillion by 2018, accompanied by a significant reduction in the share of wealth held by high-income countries. Middle-income countries are converging with high-income countries, albeit slowly. But low-income countries are still lagging. • Most countries increased per capita wealth between 1995 and 2018, with the fastest growth in upper-middle-income countries. But for 26 countries, representing all income groups, per capita wealth stagnated or declined. • Despite this, growth in gross domestic product (GDP) outstripped growth in wealth among most countries. This was most pronounced among low-income countries, the group with the largest proportion whose GDP growth exceeded wealth growth between 1995–2018. • These findings are cause for concern for both convergence of prosperity and the sustainability of economic growth. To catch up with richer nations, low-income countries need to be accumulating assets faster than other countries; however, we find the opposite. Some countries record declining wealth per capita. • Renewable natural capital increased in value since 1995 in all income groups and accounted for 3 percent of total wealth in 2018. Nonrenewable natural capital assets grew rapidly from 1995 until around 2014 and have been steadily declining in value since then, driven by declining fossil fuel prices and posing a difficult development challenge for countries that are highly dependent on these assets. • At the global level and for most countries, human capital, measured as the net present value of lifetime earnings of the labor force, is the most important component of wealth (64 percent in 2018).