September 14, 2010, 12:00 am
America’s Dominance of Global Wealth Is Slipping
By JACK EWING
The United States remains by far the nation with the most wealth, with 101,762 euros ($130,764) per person in stocks, bank accounts and insurance, Allianz researchers said Tuesday. Some 39 percent of the world’s wealth belongs to Americans, while Western Europe accounts for another 31 percent.
Globally, the world is still trying to recover the wealth it has lost since the financial crisis began. Wealth in the 50 countries surveyed rose 7.5 percent last year, but remains 4 percent below the precrisis level, Allianz said.
Germany was one of the few advanced countries to have recovered its precrisis wealth, thanks to conservative investment habits. Germans typically have fewer stocks in their portfolios than Americans, Mr. Heise said.
In Eastern Europe, which has had the biggest gains, wealth has soared an average of more than 16 percent a year since in 2000. Asia (not including Japan) and Latin America are close behind with average annual gains of more than 12 percent, Allianz said. The United States and Europe have managed gains of 3 percent or less.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/americas-dominance-of-global-wealth-
is-slipping/