Monaco: The Richest Place on Earth

It's famed for its enormous yachts, fast cars and tax exiles. Now Monaco can lay claim to being the world's wealthiest place.

The World Bank has released a raft of new statistics, which show the Monégasque earn more per capita than any other people in the world.

Since the principality's accountants are notoriously opaque, the bank has had to make an approximate estimate, but given that gross national income (GNI) per capita in third place Bermuda is $104,610 (£61,000, €76,500), it's clear that those in Monte Carlo aren't short of a bob or two.

In second place is Liechtenstein, with Norway in fourth and Qatar in fifth. The top 10 wealthiest territories also include Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Isle of Man and Macao, meaning that 60% of the 10 are known for their shady tax dealings, or for having an income tax rate of 0%.

The UK is placed joint-33<sup>rd with Ireland, on an average income of $39,110 – that's up from $38,500 in 2012. Americans grew wealthier, on average, in 2013 too. GNI in the US grew from $52,340 to $53,670, as it finds itself sandwiched between Singapore and the Faroe Islands.

On the other end of the scale, Malawi is now the poorest nation on earth, measured by GNI per capita. On average, Malawians earn just $270 a year – that's $50 less than they did in 2012. Malawi has replaced the Democratic Republic of Congo at the foot of the list.

The GNI per capita is the dollar value of a country's final income in a year, divided by its population. It reflects the average income of a country's citizens.

Another data set released by the World Bank ranks the territories of the world in order of purchasing power parity (PPP), a metric in which the exchange rate adjusts so that an identical good in two different countries has the same price when expressed in the same currency.

Top of this list is Qatar, followed by Macao, Kuwait, Singapore and Bermuda. Ranked on PPP, the UK slips back to 39<sup>th, showing that you get less bag for your buck in Britain.

The US is still far and away the largest economy on the planet, measured by total GDP. At almost $17tn, it's 54% larger again than the economy of second placed China, which is followed in the table by Japan, Germany and France.

The UK holds its sixth-placed ranking, although the gap between Brazil in seventh has narrowed over the past 12 months.