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Wealth Estimates
Another type of green accounting is the World Bank's analysis of estimates of the wealth of nations which explores the composition of wealth at a point in time (largely for the year 1994). Here national wealth is defined much broader than usual and is embodied in natural capital; human resources that include education, raw labor, and social capital; and produced assets (machinery, equipment, buildings, and urban land).
National wealth is here defined much broader than usual and is embodied in natural capital; human resources that include education, raw labor, and social capital; and produced assets (machinery, equipment, buildings, and urban land). The results show that human resources play a predominant role, thus lending support to investments in education and health. They also highlight the importance of agricultural cropland and pasture land, pointing to the need for sustainable land management practices. The estimates support our intuitive understanding of the importance of people and the environment in development.
The figure and table Selected Countries (in the box to the right) show wealth estimates for selected countries. The two countries ranking highest in wealth per capita in the table below are hardly surprising. Japan is wealthy in terms of both human resources and produced assets, while the United States is relatively better endowed with natural resources. The richer middle-income countries begin to appear in the per capita wealth range of $100,000 to $200,000, again boosted by natural resource endowments: Chile (minerals, forests) and Saudi Arabia (oil). As a generalization a broad array of Southeast Asian, and South and Central American countries fall in the range of $50,000 to $150,000 per capita. Of the Sub-Saharan African countries Botswana and Namibia are the highest ranking, falling in the range of $50,000 to $100,000. All other Sub-Saharan African countries fall below $50,000, as do China and most of South Asia.
To estimate the total wealth of nearly 100 nations, as presented in summary form in Expanding the Measure of Wealth: Indicators of Environmentally Sustainable Development, 1997 (see the link below), a number of strong assumptions are required. Sensitivity Analyses (see the box to the right) made on some of these assumptions -- exchange rates and discount rates -- shows that the result can vary quite substantially with different assumptions.
More information
- For figure and table of wealth estimates for Selected Countries, please see the Selected Countries section in the box on the right.
- For more information on the results for the different Region Groups, please see the Regions section in the box on the right.
- For more information on the results for the different Income Groups, please see the Income Groups section in the box on the right.
- For more information on the results of the Sensitivity Analyses, please see the Sensitivity Analyses section in the box on the right.
- For a detailed explanation on how the different components have been calculated, please see Estimating National Wealth Methodology and Results, 1998 (see the link below).
- Results for all countries and the breakdown of different components can be downloaded below (see Wealth Estimates: Results, 1994).
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