Key Takeaways
- The richest 10% of Americans on average earn more daily ($156 per person) than similar groups worldwide.
- They also make nearly 7x than the bottom 10% of Americans.
- Yet, the bottom 10% in the U.S. earn more than the top 10% in many countries, including Indonesia, Egypt, and India.
There are many ways to compare countries economically, but each has shortcomings—GDP ignores population, while GDP per capita overlooks income distribution.
For a closer look at living standards, we visualize 2024 income (or consumption) figures from Our World in Data. All figures are in international dollars at 2017 prices adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).
Because it’s per capita, income is averaged across all people—including children and retirees. In practice, working adults are possibly earning about twice the listed amount to support their households.
The richest 10% of Americans on average earn more daily ($156 per person) than similar groups worldwide. They also make nearly 7x than the bottom 10% of Americans.
This table includes the full dataset of 108 countries.
| Country | Richest 10% (International dollars) |
Poorest 10% (International dollars) |
|---|---|---|
 Luxembourg |
$165.97 | $37.03 |
 United States |
$156.42 | $22.93 |
 Switzerland |
$137.61 | $32.32 |
 Norway |
$117.91 | $34.47 |
 Germany |
$117.82 | $28.05 |
 Canada |
$111.65 | $26.40 |
 Austria |
$109.55 | $27.69 |
 South Korea |
$103.40 | $22.60 |
 Denmark |
$103.05 | $31.86 |
 Netherlands |
$101.45 | $32.34 |
 Sweden |
$98.05 | $24.72 |
 Ireland |
$97.56 | $27.77 |
Note: Figures are rounded in the visualization but left unedited in this table.
Yet, the bottom 10% in the U.S. earn more than the top 10% in many countries, including Indonesia, Egypt, and India.
Luxembourg’s richest 10% (not visualized, but in the data set) out-earn Americans, the only country to do so.
The top 10% in the U.S., is about 34 million individuals, compared to India and China’s 140 million individuals.
Nevertheless it is a good representation for how incomes and consumption are generally higher in Western, industrialized countries.
Although the data is adjusted for purchasing power parity, the method still has limitations. One key issue is that the standard basket of goods used as a baseline may include items that people in some countries don’t need, buy, or prioritize.
Credit: Visual Capitalist
