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> United States ranks #22 in median wealth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult#List_of_countries_by_median_and_mean_wealth_per_a

by trymas 7y ago

> United States ranks #22 in median wealth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult#List_of_countries_by_median_and_mean_wealth_per_adult_(USD) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe... It's off-topic, but could someone explain how is Ukraine last on that list? 40$ for median wealth and ~1.5k$ for mean wealth sounds incredibly low. I knew Ukraine is in not great economic shape, but completely last sounds insane.

nabla9 7y ago
Ukraine was dirt poor even before the war and their corruption index was higher than Russia's. Today Ukraine is in war and the most industrialized part of the country (eastern Ukraine) is partially occupied.
gridlockd 7y ago
This measures "wealth", not income. You can be in the top 1% of earners, but if you save nothing, you can still have a net worth of $0. Apparently, the median Ukrainian has only $40 to their name, by whatever means they measure wealth. However, Ukraine has compulsory socialized retirement funds. Minimum wage is $160/month. The median US-American supposedly has 60,000$ to their name, which must be mostly due to IRAs.
- trymas 7y ago
  Yes, I understand that wealth is not income, but in Ukraine there are plenty of oligarchs worth multi-billion sums. Dividing that wealth over whole Ukraine population is definitely more than 40$ per person. Though probably that's where rampant corruptions comes in and I will just guess that rich oligarchs "on paper" have little to no official wealth in Ukraine (have no clue how wealth is calculated country-wise if it's international)?
  - gridlockd 7y ago
    > Yes, I understand that wealth is not income, but in Ukraine there are plenty of oligarchs worth multi-billion sums. Dividing that wealth over whole Ukraine population is definitely more than 40$ per person. That's the arithmetic mean, not the median. The median is computed by sorting all the values from low to high and then picking the middle one. That's why it's a better measure for ordinary people. The few outliers at the top are not factored in.
    - trymas 7y ago
      Ah. Indeed. My error and feeling dumb for this mistake. Dunno why I always mix mean and median.. (clearly English is not my first language).

by trymas 7y ago

nabla9 7y ago

Ukraine was dirt poor even before the war and their corruption index was higher than Russia's. Today Ukraine is in war and the most industrialized part of the country (eastern Ukraine) is partially occupied.

gridlockd 7y ago

This measures "wealth", not income. You can be in the top 1% of earners, but if you save nothing, you can still have a net worth of $0. Apparently, the median Ukrainian has only $40 to their name, by whatever means they measure wealth. However, Ukraine has compulsory socialized retirement funds. Minimum wage is $160/month. The median US-American supposedly has 60,000$ to their name, which must be mostly due to IRAs.

trymas 7y ago
Yes, I understand that wealth is not income, but in Ukraine there are plenty of oligarchs worth multi-billion sums. Dividing that wealth over whole Ukraine population is definitely more than 40$ per person. Though probably that's where rampant corruptions comes in and I will just guess that rich oligarchs "on paper" have little to no official wealth in Ukraine (have no clue how wealth is calculated country-wise if it's international)?
- gridlockd 7y ago
  > Yes, I understand that wealth is not income, but in Ukraine there are plenty of oligarchs worth multi-billion sums. Dividing that wealth over whole Ukraine population is definitely more than 40$ per person. That's the arithmetic mean, not the median. The median is computed by sorting all the values from low to high and then picking the middle one. That's why it's a better measure for ordinary people. The few outliers at the top are not factored in.
  - trymas 7y ago
    Ah. Indeed. My error and feeling dumb for this mistake. Dunno why I always mix mean and median.. (clearly English is not my first language).