Global investment bank Credit Suisse estimated the aggregate net wealth of Arab citizens at $3,974bn at the end of June 2018, constituting an increase of 4.9% from $3,789bn at end-June 2017 and accounting for 1.3% of global net wealth in the covered period. Credit Suisse defines a country's net wealth as the sum of its population's marketable value of financial and non-financial assets, with the latter including mainly real estate holdings, less aggregate personal debt. It excludes a country's stock of human capital as well as its stock of public assets and liabilities, such as the public debt. The aggregate net wealth of Arab nationals consisted of $1,841bn in financial wealth, $2,859bn in non-financial wealth and $725.5bn in personal debt at the end of June 2018. Citizens of Saudi Arabia accumulated $977bn in net wealth as at end-June 2018, followed by the UAE ($683.5bn) and Kuwait ($278.2bn). In contrast, citizens of Mauritania and Djibouti had $3.9bn and $3bn in net wealth, respectively, as at end-June 2018, the lowest in the Arab world. In parallel, Qatar has the highest net wealth per adult among Arab countries at $121,638 as at end-June 2018, followed by Kuwait ($91,374) and the UAE ($88,173); while Mauritania ($1,756), Syria ($1,190) and Sudan ($530) have the lowest net wealth per adult in the Arab world.
Source: Credit Suisse, Byblos Research