International Monetary Fund (2009)

Rank Country GDP $ 1  Qatar 87,717 2  Luxembourg 78,723 3  Norway 53,269 4  Brunei 50,103 5  Singapore 49,433 6  United States 46,443 7  Switzerland 42,948 —  Hong Kong 42,574 8  Ireland 39,441 9  Netherlands 39,278 10  Austria 38,896

The list of top 10 richest countries of the world are sorted by their gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita – the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year divided by the average (or mid-year) population for the same year. GDP dollar estimates here are derived from purchasing power parity (PPP) calculations. Such calculations are prepared by various organizations, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Comparisons of national wealth are also frequently made on the basis of nominal GDP, which does not reflect differences in the cost of living in different countries (See List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita below). Using a PPP basis is arguably more useful when comparing generalized differences in living standards on the whole between nations because PPP takes into account the relative cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries, rather than using just exchange rates which may distort the real differences in income.

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