RANKED: The Wealth of Southeast Asian Nations

Measuring national wealth and changes in wealth is part of an ongoing effort by the World Bank to monitor the long-term economic well-being of nations.

In the recently released book report of The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018, total wealth in the new approach is calculated by summing up estimates of each component of wealth; produced capital, natural capital, human capital, and net foreign assets.

The report tracks the wealth of 141 countries between 1995 and 2014, which significant and primarily contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aims to reviltalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

In this regard, wealth accounts contribute to (1) policy and institutional coherence, by providing a common and sound analytical framework for assessing sustainable development; and (2) the targets related to data, monitoring, and accountability.

Let’s have a look at how Southeast Asia nations progressed in between the range of years. Putting them in rankings (based on the total wealth amount), each country progressed differently according to the report.

Notes:

1. Scroll further down for the meaning of each component that is included as asset categories contributed to the total wealth achieved.

2. Estimates are in 2014 U.S. dollars (billion, except for Population) per capita at market exchange rates.

3. No data were available for Brunei and Myanmar.

SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA

THAILAND

INDONESIA

LAOS

PHILIPPINES

 VIETNAM

Indicators:

Total wealth was measured as the sum of each asset category below (including net foreign assets). It represents a significant departure from past estimates, in which total wealth was estimated by (1) assuming that consumption is the return on total wealth and then (2) calculating back to total wealth from current sustainable consumption. 

Produced capital and urban land: machinery, buildings, equipment, and residential and non-residential urban land, measured at market prices. For brevity, the term produced capital is used to include produced capital and urban land.

Natural capital: energy3 (oil, gas, hard and soft coal) and minerals (10 categories), agricultural land (cropland and pastureland), forests (timber and some non-timber forest products), and terrestrial protected areas (for brevity, referred to simply as protected areas in the report). Marine-protected areas are not currently included. Natural capital is measured as the discounted sum of the value of the rents generated over the lifetime of the asset.

Human capital: human capital disaggregated by gender and employment status (employed, self-employed). Human capital is measured as the discounted value of earnings over a person’s lifetime

 
Source :World Bank Report 2018