Singapore: World’s richest country by 2050?

By Patrick Winn, Global Post

Editor’s note: The following text is from Global Post, which provides views – important, moving or just odd – from around the world. The views expressed are solely those of the author.

If you enjoy peering inside the minds of the world’s super rich, take a look through the 2012 “Wealth Report.”

Compiled by Citibank, and a property consultancy called Knight Frank, it’s a lengthy analysis based partly on interviews with the super rich. (Definition: people with more than $25 million in investable assets.)

Yes, the report contains musings on why yacht sales are down and the pros and cons of buying a sports franchise. But that’s not the most interesting part.

The study predicts that Singapore – that little Southeast Asian city-state with loads of Type A zeal – will be the world’s richest nation by 2050.

And by that, they mean its per capita GDP at purchasing power parity. (For those who skipped economics class, this attempts to more accurately measure the average income by considering inflation, cost of living and exchange rates.)

According to Citibank’s 2050 prediction, the top five countries by this measure will be:

1. Singapore: $137,710

2. Hong Kong: $116,639

3. Taiwan: $114,093 (Congratulations, Taiwan, Citibank analysts think that you’ll make it 2050 without being consumed by China.)

4. South Korea: $107,752

And sliding in at number five, the only non-Asian nation, the United States: $100,802

But there are some glaring questions about these numbers, which are based on Citibank’s own analysis.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/15/singapore-worlds-richest-country-by-2050/?hpt=hp_bn2