The Level and Distribution of Global Household Wealth

Authors: Davies, James B.¹; Sandström, Susanna²; Shorrocks, Anthony²; Wolff, Edward N.³

Source: The Economic Journal, Volume 121, Number 551, March 2011 , pp. 223-254(32)

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Abstract:

The level of average household wealth in all countries is estimated via the determinants of assets and debts for 39 countries which have balance sheet or survey data. The distribution of wealth in all countries is inferred from information on the pattern of wealth ownership for 20 countries (covering 59% of world population). Combining the level and distribution figures suggests that median global wealth was PPP$8,635 in the year 2000, and that PPP$518,361 was needed to belong to the top percentile. The top decile owned 71% of world wealth and the global Gini value was 0.802.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2010.02391.x

Affiliations: 1: University of Western Ontario 2: UNU-WIDER, Helsinki 3: New York University

Publication date: 2011-03-01