This is a great illustration of how different “average” and “median” can be. It shows where various countries rank with respect to the average and median wealth of their population. Switzerland, for example, has the highest average wealth, yet the median wealth is a small fraction of the average, illustrating that there are some mega-rich people in Switzerland. The Netherlands, on the other hand, has the same rank on both columns, since the wealth is more evenly distributed. As for the good old U.S. of A., it is very lopsided as well, with average wealth of $565,000 but the dividing line between the top 50% and the lower 50% being merely $112,000.





