On Tuesday, UBS published the 17th edition of its Global Wealth Report. Total personal wealth rose by 10.8 percent in US dollar terms last year, the strongest reading since 2017 and a third consecutive year of growth.
Switzerland leads the world in average wealth per adult resident, at 910,382 dollars (roughly 736,000 francs at current exchange rates), ahead of the United States and Luxembourg.
The median tells another tale
Measured by median wealth per adult resident, the figure that splits a population into a richer and a poorer half, Switzerland slips to eighth place, at 145,555 dollars (behind Luxembourg at 394,005, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Hong Kong, and Canada).
The contrast between average and median shows how a comparatively small group of very wealthy residents lifts the national average. The average Swiss adult is thus worth more than six times the typical one.
