Wealth inequality in Europe (Credit Suisse, June 2021)

38 comments
  1. Is that German / Sweden effect because of migrants (largely unskilled, unemployed etc?) Or is there some other reason they are outliers from N/W Europe?

    (And I have no idea why RI is that high).

  2. It’s not what I expected this map would look like. The Nordic countries are all over the place, while France and the UK look identical to Romania and Bulgaria.

  3. Interesting for one that they thought about including non-European countries… it’s not perfect but there’s clearly a trend of Europe being better at handling inequalities!

  4. Generally indeed the numbers for wealth inequality are a lot bigger than the numbers for income inequality, those in turn are usually larger than consumption inequality figures. And it is perfectly logical as well – those on higher incomes re-invest a bigger proportion of their income, and compound interest does its magic. And different choices that people make regarding their finances are more pronounced.

  5. Well, well… For constantly hearing about how bad wealth inequality is in the US, it appears we aren’t that different compared to many European countries. I’m sure many of you will have a bunch of reasons why our wealth inequality is actually bad while it is more of a statistical quirk in Europe…

  6. I wouldn’t include China in this graph, because of questionable accuracy of the data. They like to manipulate their data so that they look good on paper…

  7. It’s hard to believe Azerbaijan has almost the same inequality as Armenia. I thought it’d be much higher because of oil wealth.

  8. And [here’s](https://youtu.be/tW_kw6OPXc0) why wealth inequality numbers are dodgy and [income inequality](https://i1.wp.com/epthinktank.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/fig-7-gini.png?ssl=1)** is a better metric.

    Should also tell us a lot about these figures that the Netherlands ranked as the most unequal country according to the world bank’s data on wealth inequality in 2019 but here they aren’t even anywhere near the top in just Europe.

    ** 2017 numbers. Couldn’t find a more recent map. [Here’s](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tessi190/default/table?lang=en) eurostat data for each year.

    EDIT: The heck. Why do you guys downvote?

  9. Now consider how much wealth in each country belongs to foreign individuals and companies. Is this taken into account?

  10. Not surprised, but the small yet fleeting dopamine kick from having my anecdotal experiences validated is nice, I guess.

  11. I imagine the Cyprus figure is skewed as it may account for all the recent newly minted citizens that invested (bought) their citizenship and visas. most are millionaires and I think a few were billionaires which could easily tilt the number given a population of about 1 million people.

  12. As a Chinese lives in Finland, I think the numbers are bullshit, if Finland is 74%, China should be 740% if not more.

  13. Having lived in both countries, I’m absolutely certain that Finland is miles more equal than Hungary. In Hungary you have a very minimal chance of improving your wealth compared to your parent’s, and it will take a lot of talent and effort. That is, if you’re not from an upper middle class family or above. Imo in Finland you have every opportunity to make a good living if you’re capable, you don’t need luck or extreme effort. And by that I just mean that you won’t have to stay at your parent’s place till you’re 30 to be able afford downpayment for example…

    I’ve seen rich kids in Hungary get apartments from their parents when they turn 18, while the majority cant come near living independently till they’re 30. In Finland unless you’re a slacker or have some really unfortunate thing crossing your plans, everybody can afford to shortly after higher education. And you don’t need to live on mac n cheese either.

    I’m really failing to understand how is Finland more unequal when the inequality here ranges from between ‘self-induced poverty’, ‘great’ and ‘rich’, as opposed to ranging between ‘poverty’ and ‘rich’.

  14. Wealth inequality is not a problem. High wealth inequality is only bad if the poor are actually really poor. But fact is that poor people have it much easier today than they did before. And they have all the chances to build a better life.

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