Per-capita assets offer a more balanced view of a country’s wealth, recognizing that smaller populations will naturally accumulate less total wealth. However, averages do not reflect wealth distribution within a society. Median wealth, in contrast, rises with more equal asset allocation. Iceland and other Scandinavian countries are known for equitable wealth distribution, and Credit Suisse data supports this. Denmark and Norway also rank high for per-capita median wealth, at 7th and 10th respectively.

The U.S. is third in per-capita average wealth but drops to 15th for median wealth, indicating greater wealth disparity. Belgium shows the opposite trend, ranking 13th for average wealth but 3rd for median wealth, reflecting a more egalitarian wealth distribution.

Examining the gap between mean and median wealth, the U.S. ranks 7th with an average wealth over five times higher than the median. This disparity is only surpassed by Brazil. Conversely, countries with smaller gaps, like Iceland, Luxembourg, and Belgium, top the median wealth list. Eastern European countries like Slovakia and Slovenia also show small gaps despite lower mean wealth. In poorer countries like Brazil, South Africa, Russia, and Nigeria, the wealth gap remains significant.