The 20 Wealthiest Countries In 2013

The world’s wealthiest countries may surprise you.

Some nations reach wealth because they’re sitting on impressive amounts of mineral resources, others because they have invested heavily in industry and technology, and others because they are touristic havens generating impressive revenues each year. Whatever the reason that boosts these countries’ economies, one of the most objective indicators we can use in ranking the world’s wealthiest nations is GDP (gross domestic product).

GDP represents the market value of all official final services and products within a country in a specific time frame. The GDP per capita, on the other hand, is an estimate based on population size and it represents an indicator used to rank the standard of living within a nation, rather than the entire wealth of the country. With this being said, we have compiled a list of the world’s 20 wealthiest countries in 2013, ranking them according to GDP. We have also included the increase in GDP compared with figures for 2008, to see how these nations have improved over the last 5 years. The data used for the countdown was taken from figures released by the International Monetary Fund (April 2013 statistics).

Although the US is currently the undisputed leader, with a GDP of $16.238 trillion, its growth rate in comparison to the 2008 GDP (%13.6) is less than one third that of the second wealthiest country, China, with a mind-blowing increase of 65.8%.

Apart from the US and China, highlights also include Taiwan, the United Kingdom, India, and Germany. Let’s take a look at the countdown, in a style similar to our coverage of the most dangerous places in the world.

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