Financial Olympics: How the US Stacks Up To Other Countries in These 4 Financial Benchmarks

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As expected, the United States led the overall medal count during the first week of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris by snagging a total of 39 medals through Thursday, Aug. 1, though China led the gold medal count with a dozen. If you were to hold a financial Olympics, the U.S. might also lead the overall medal count. But it would face some tough competition in specific benchmarks.

According to World Bank data cited by Global PEO Services, the U.S. is the world’s largest economy by a huge margin, with a total GDP of $25.43 trillion in 2024. China ranks second with $14.72 trillion, followed by Japan with $4.25 trillion.

However, when you break it down into GDP per capita, the U.S. wouldn’t crack the world’s Top 10. According to the World Population Review, that list is dominated by small-population countries like Monaco, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands.

From a personal finance standpoint, four of the most important financial metrics are income, retirement savings, housing costs and debt. Here’s a look at how the U.S. might stack up in a “Financial Olympics” that includes those four categories.

Average Annual Income

This is a pretty straightforward benchmark because it simply looks at the average income citizens of a particular country earn every year. According to the WorldData website, here are the three medal winners based on the most recent numbers:

Gold: Monaco, $186,080 a year

Silver: Bermuda, $134,640

Bronze: Norway, $102,460

The United States ranks seventh in the category. Here’s how it compares with certain other wealthy and/or large countries:

• United States: $80,300 
• Australia: $63,140
• Germany: $53,970
• Canada: $ 53,930
• UK: $47,800
• France: $45,070
• Japan: $39,030
• China: $13,400
• Brazil: $9,070

Best Retirement Savings Systems

Ranking countries by average retirement savings is tricky because of wide differences in how savings are amassed. For example, the U.S. system is mainly funded by private plans such as 401(k)s and IRAs, with Social Security serving to complement private savings. Other countries are much more dependent on government-sponsored pension programs.

The most recent Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Indexranked countries according to the quality and reach of their retirement savings systems. Here are the medal winners:

Gold: Netherlands (score of 85/100) 

Silver: Iceland (83.5) 

Bronze: Denmark (81.3) 

The U.S. ranked 22^nd in this category. Here’s how it stacks up against some of its peer countries:

• Australia: 77.3
• UK: 73
• Canada: 70.2
• Germany: 66.8
• U.S.: 63
• France: 61.7
• Japan: 56.3
• Brazil: 55.7
• China: 55.3

Housing/Property Costs, Price to Income Ratio

A country’s financial stability is often gauged by how many of its citizens can afford to purchase their own homes. The price-to-income ratio compares the median price of homes to the median household income in a particular country. According to rankings compiled by Numbeo, here are the medal winners in this category:

Gold: Oman (2.9)

Silver: Saudi Arabi (3.1)

Bronze (tie): United States, South Africa (3.3)

The U.S. earns its first medal with this benchmark. Here are how other peer countries stack up:

• Australia: 8.4
• UK: 9.1
• Germany: 9.4
• Canada: 10.4
• France: 11.2
• Japan: 11.3
• Brazil: 16.3
• China: 29.4

Household Debts to GDP

This benchmark measures the financial obligations of individuals and households in relation to their country’s economic strength or total income, according to the Springer Link website. It’s calculated by dividing the total amount of personal household debt by the country’s gross domestic product.

Here are the medal winners as of December 2023, according to an analysis from Trading Economics:

Gold: Argentina (4.1)

Silver: Turkey (11)

Bronze: Mexico (16.3)

The U.S. ranked 32^nd out of 44 countries in this category. Here’s how it stacks up against peer countries:

• Brazil:  34.9
• Germany:  52.1
• China: 62.1
• France:  63
• U.S: 72.9
• UK:  79.5
• Canada:  103
• Australia:  110
• Japan:  N/A

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