Are we Belgians the richest in the world?
17/08/2023
According to the Global Wealth Report, one of the most important reports on wealth, Belgium's median wealth, at exactly €228,594, is the highest in the whole world for the first time ever. That means half of the adults in our country are above that and half below it.

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The Global Wealth Report by Credit Suisse, now merged into UBS, is one of the most important reports on wealth in existence. For its calculation, it assumes total wealth: a Belgian's savings including his shares and bonds, real estate and debts. And so that amounts to exactly €228,594, a fine result. Before we pop the champagne, however, we should note a few facts. One is that we leapfrogged ex-leader Australia, which now trails us with €226,310. Rounding out the top three is Hong Kong, with a median wealth of €185,118.
Finally, for good measure, a lesson in arithmetic to briefly explain the difference between median and average wealth. The median is the middle number of all the numbers in a series, lined up from low to high. With the mean, on the other hand, we first add up all the numbers and then divide the sum by the number of numbers.