Timor-Leste Takes 87th Place Among Richest Countries in the World

BATAK CENTER FOR OCEANIAN STUDIES -- The Global Finance Magazine recently published an analysis the Richest and Poorest Countries in the World. It used “the most commonly accepted method of determining the wealth of countries and comparing generalized different in living standards on a whole between nations is to use GDP per capita on a purchasing power parity basis in current international dollars”. The GDP (PPP) per capita was used “to compare generalized difference in living standards on whole nations because PPP takes into account the relative cost of living and the inflation rates of countries”.

The Magazine used figures and estimates provided by the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook Database for April 2013, in order to rank all countries across the World based on their GDP per capita.

According to the Index, Timor-Leste is placed 87th of the 184 countries in the ranking with per-capita GDP (PPP) of 10,783 dollars. In the South East Asian region apart from Singapore (3rd), Brunei (5th), Malaysia (55th) and Thailand (85th), Timor-Leste was in the top half of the Richest Countries in the World.

The Index showed that in 2013, “wealth was highly concentrated in a few Gulf states, Europe and North America”, while “poverty remains extensive throughout the world, particularly in South Asia and Africa”. Qatar is the richest country in the World in 2013, with per-capita GDP (PPP) of over 105 thousand dollars, while the poorest is the Democratic Republic of Congo, with less than 400 dollars.


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