The richest country in the world is Qatar, according to Global Finance, one of America’s most influential business magazines.
The widely cited list places Qatar at the top of the wealthiest nations largely owing to its massive gas resources. The European state of Luxembourg is the second richest while Kuwait and the UAE follow Qatar as the wealthiest countries in the Arab region.
Bahrain is ahead of Saudi Arabia in the list that covers 182 countries in its wealth classification based on comparing the living standards of the population by using gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.
“The richest country is occupied by Qatar a GDP per capita of $ 90,149 in 2010. The poorest country is the Republic of Congo, with a per capita of only $ 342.”
Qatar is now the largest gas exporter in the world and its proven natural gas resources of 25 trillion cubic metres are the world’s third largest after those of Russia and Iran.
“Interestingly, Qatar is the only country from the Arab region that included in the top ten world’s richest nations,” Global Finance said.
The 20 richest nations include Luxembourg, Norway, Singapore, Brunei, United States, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, Kuwait, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, the UAE, Belgium and Britain.
Other Arab nations stacked up as following: Bahrain (33), Oman (36), Saudi Arabia (38), Lebanon (54), Libya (57), Tunisia (89), Algeria (98), Egypt (104), Jordan (107), Syria (111), Morocco (117), Iraq (124), Yemen (136), Djibouti (137), Sudan (138), Mauritania (145) and Comoros (166).