Top 1% net worth by country: what it takes in 2026
You need about $5.42 million to be in the top 1% in the US, $3.6 million in the UK and $1.31 million worldwide. The threshold for all 77 countries.
Short answer: in the United States you need a net worth of about $5.42 million to be in the top 1% of adults. In the United Kingdom the line is about $3.6 million, in Germany $3.21 million, in Canada $2.65 million and in Australia $4.89 million. Measured against every adult on the planet, $1.31 million is enough.
The line is highest in Switzerland ($7.17 million) and lowest in Niger ($33,600). In 40 of the 77 countries we cover, a net worth of $1 million or less already puts you in the national top 1%.
Quick answers for the most searched countries
- United States: $5.42 million for the top 1%, $1.19 million for the top 10%. The median adult has $93,600. See the full US breakdown.
- United Kingdom: $3.6 million for the top 1%, $743,000 for the top 10%, median $106,000. UK details.
- Canada: $2.65 million (top 1%), $657,000 (top 10%), median $193,000. Canada details.
- Australia: $4.89 million (top 1%), $1.24 million (top 10%), median $214,000. Australia details.
- Germany: $3.21 million (top 1%), $841,000 (top 10%), median $139,000. Germany details.
- India: $99,100 (top 1%), median $5,650. India details.
- China: $961,000 (top 1%), median $26,500. China details.
All figures are net worth per adult aged 20 and over: everything a person owns (property, pension and investment accounts, deposits, business equity) minus debts. They are in US dollars at ECB exchange rates of 2026-10-09. The country pages have more detail, in the local currency for most countries.
The full list: top 1% net worth in 77 countries
The table is sorted by the top 1% threshold. “Top 1% line ÷ median” shows how many times the typical adult’s wealth you need to reach the top 1%; “Top 1% own” is the share of the country’s total household wealth that the top 1% hold.
| # | Country | Top 1% net worth from | Top 10% net worth from | Median net worth | Top 1% line ÷ median | Top 1% own (wealth) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | $7.17M | $1.74M | $254,000 | 28× | 31% |
| 2 | Iceland | $6.18M | $2.06M | $176,000 | 35× | 18% |
| 3 | United States | $5.42M | $1.19M | $93,600 | 58× | 34% |
| 4 | Ireland | $4.93M | $1.14M | $129,000 | 38× | 20% |
| 5 | Australia | $4.89M | $1.24M | $214,000 | 23× | 23% |
| 6 | Singapore | $4.44M | $1.06M | $175,000 | 25× | 25% |
| 7 | Belgium | $3.76M | $843,000 | $181,000 | 21× | 15% |
| 8 | Luxembourg | $3.74M | $1.03M | $229,000 | 16× | 23% |
| 9 | United Kingdom | $3.6M | $743,000 | $106,000 | 34× | 20% |
| 10 | Sweden | $3.3M | $1.06M | $53,700 | 61× | 23% |
| 11 | New Zealand | $3.3M | $843,000 | $146,000 | 23× | 23% |
| 12 | Hong Kong | $3.27M | $685,000 | $110,000 | 30× | 27% |
| 13 | Germany | $3.21M | $841,000 | $139,000 | 23× | 27% |
| 14 | Taiwan | $2.97M | $686,000 | $114,000 | 26× | 28% |
| 15 | South Korea | $2.84M | $886,000 | $34,900 | 81× | 25% |
| 16 | Netherlands | $2.83M | $934,000 | $203,000 | 14× | 13% |
| 17 | Denmark | $2.79M | $1.05M | $134,000 | 21× | 20% |
| 18 | Austria | $2.77M | $653,000 | $115,000 | 24× | 29% |
| 19 | Canada | $2.65M | $657,000 | $193,000 | 14× | 28% |
| 20 | France | $2.54M | $629,000 | $119,000 | 21× | 25% |
| 21 | United Arab Emirates | $2.45M | $557,000 | $88,200 | 28× | 28% |
| 22 | Italy | $2.31M | $575,000 | $90,600 | 26× | 22% |
| 23 | Spain | $2.26M | $494,000 | $111,000 | 20× | 23% |
| 24 | Japan | $2M | $484,000 | $81,000 | 25× | 24% |
| 25 | Malta | $2M | $299,000 | $87,000 | 23× | 21% |
| 26 | Norway | $1.98M | $672,000 | $155,000 | 13× | 23% |
| 27 | Portugal | $1.94M | $453,000 | $76,300 | 25× | 25% |
| 28 | Cyprus | $1.71M | $204,000 | $35,500 | 48× | 25% |
| 29 | Finland | $1.6M | $472,000 | $74,200 | 22× | 16% |
| 30 | Greece | $1.4M | $323,000 | $67,000 | 21× | 22% |
| 31 | Estonia | $1.38M | $209,000 | $39,000 | 35× | 35% |
| 32 | Uruguay | $1.38M | $159,000 | $23,500 | 59× | 40% |
| 33 | Slovenia | $1.32M | $336,000 | $72,700 | 18× | 22% |
| 34 | Czechia | $1.29M | $339,000 | $59,100 | 22× | 22% |
| 35 | Hungary | $1.15M | $202,000 | $37,300 | 31× | 33% |
| 36 | Croatia | $1.13M | $244,000 | $43,800 | 26× | 22% |
| 37 | Poland | $1.1M | $241,000 | $58,400 | 19× | 31% |
| 38 | Lithuania | $982,000 | $211,000 | $35,500 | 28× | 24% |
| 39 | China | $961,000 | $136,000 | $26,500 | 36× | 30% |
| 40 | Romania | $860,000 | $211,000 | $35,800 | 24× | 24% |
| 41 | Costa Rica | $855,000 | $192,000 | $29,800 | 29× | 28% |
| 42 | Slovakia | $853,000 | $230,000 | $60,800 | 14× | 17% |
| 43 | Latvia | $808,000 | $150,000 | $34,400 | 23× | 29% |
| 44 | Chile | $636,000 | $109,000 | $13,600 | 47× | 39% |
| 45 | Russia | $579,000 | $98,700 | $15,900 | 36× | 48% |
| 46 | Argentina | $556,000 | $132,000 | $21,900 | 25× | 26% |
| 47 | Mexico | $542,000 | $105,000 | $13,600 | 40× | 39% |
| 48 | Brazil | $494,000 | $95,800 | $12,000 | 41× | 39% |
| 49 | Peru | $478,000 | $77,300 | $10,200 | 47× | 38% |
| 50 | Turkey | $477,000 | $102,000 | $15,000 | 32× | 32% |
| 51 | Malaysia | $472,000 | $119,000 | $20,400 | 23× | 24% |
| 52 | Bulgaria | $462,000 | $111,000 | $18,600 | 25× | 25% |
| 53 | South Africa | $330,000 | $45,400 | $2,510 | 132× | 56% |
| 54 | Colombia | $318,000 | $61,500 | $7,660 | 42× | 39% |
| 55 | Algeria | $304,000 | $68,900 | $10,900 | 28× | 28% |
| 56 | Thailand | $265,000 | $57,700 | $8,680 | 31× | 31% |
| 57 | Iran | $244,000 | $57,600 | $9,460 | 26× | 26% |
| 58 | Indonesia | $221,000 | $59,200 | $6,970 | 32× | 18% |
| 59 | Vietnam | $215,000 | $48,400 | $8,110 | 27× | 25% |
| 60 | Ghana | $213,000 | $48,500 | $7,720 | 28× | 27% |
| 61 | Morocco | $198,000 | $45,900 | $7,430 | 27× | 27% |
| 62 | Cambodia | $193,000 | $45,900 | $7,600 | 25× | 25% |
| 63 | Bangladesh | $139,000 | $34,100 | $5,770 | 24× | 24% |
| 64 | Philippines | $125,000 | $30,000 | $4,990 | 25× | 25% |
| 65 | Egypt | $122,000 | $28,300 | $4,560 | 27× | 27% |
| 66 | Côte d’Ivoire | $122,000 | $29,500 | $4,940 | 25× | 24% |
| 67 | Kenya | $104,000 | $24,400 | $3,980 | 26× | 26% |
| 68 | Pakistan | $103,000 | $25,300 | $4,280 | 24× | 24% |
| 69 | India | $99,100 | $28,900 | $5,650 | 18× | 37% |
| 70 | Uganda | $85,100 | $18,400 | $2,750 | 31× | 31% |
| 71 | Senegal | $74,700 | $16,900 | $2,810 | 27× | 25% |
| 72 | Tanzania | $66,500 | $13,500 | $2,080 | 32× | 30% |
| 73 | Ethiopia | $62,900 | $15,600 | $2,650 | 24× | 24% |
| 74 | Nepal | $57,100 | $14,100 | $2,390 | 24× | 24% |
| 75 | Nigeria | $52,800 | $12,900 | $2,180 | 24× | 25% |
| 76 | Rwanda | $39,200 | $8,110 | $1,230 | 32× | 30% |
| 77 | Niger | $33,600 | $8,070 | $1,340 | 25× | 25% |
| World | $1.31M | $154,000 | $10,800 | 121× | 41% |
Click a column to sort. US dollars at ECB rates of 2026-10-09; per adult (20+).
Why the line is so high in Switzerland, Iceland and the US
Three things push a country’s top 1% threshold up:
- High average wealth. Switzerland, Luxembourg, Iceland and Australia have high property values, and several of them have large funded pension systems, so even ordinary households hold a lot of assets.
- Concentration at the top. In the United States the top 1% line is 58× the median, compared with 14× in Canada and 14× in the Netherlands. A long, steep tail of very rich households lifts the threshold even where the typical adult is not unusually wealthy. The US median of $93,600 is lower than in many European countries, yet the US line is the third highest in the world.
- Exchange rates. Converting to dollars makes countries with strong currencies look richer. National ranks inside a country do not change with the exchange rate, so if you live in Switzerland, compare yourself in francs on the Swiss page.
Where $1 million is enough
In 40 countries, $1 million in net worth is already above the top 1% line. That includes China ($961,000), Lithuania ($982,000), Romania ($860,000), Mexico ($542,000), Brazil ($494,000) and India ($99,100). In the richest countries, $1 million is a comfortable but not exceptional amount: in the United States it is just below the top 10% line of $1.19 million.
What about the top 0.1%?
The line for the top 0.1% is much higher. In the United States it is about $26.5 million; worldwide it is $5.81 million. At that level the estimates rely more on modelling, because surveys rarely reach the very richest households. We calibrate the extreme tail with billionaire counts, but never with lists of named people.
How these numbers are estimated
The thresholds come from the WealthPercentile model, which is built on the World Inequality Database (2026 update). WID combines tax records, household surveys, national accounts and rich lists into 127 percentile groups per country. We rebuild each country’s full distribution from those groups, scale it to 2025 levels and convert at ECB reference rates. The methodology explains every step, and the open data page has all thresholds as CSV and JSON.
Two caveats are worth knowing:
- Wealth is per adult, with couples’ wealth split equally. A married couple with $2 million together counts as two adults with $1 million each. Household-based rankings (such as the US Survey of Consumer Finances) therefore give higher thresholds for the top 1% of households.
- Data quality varies. Countries with rich tax and register data are measured more directly than countries where WID has to fill gaps from similar countries. Each country page shows a data-quality score from 1 (strong direct sources) to 5 (mainly modelled).
Frequently asked questions
Is $1 million in net worth top 1%?
Only in some countries. Worldwide, $1 million puts you in the top 1.5% of adults; the global top 1% line is $1.31 million. In 40 of 77 countries it is enough for the national top 1%, but not in the US, UK, Canada, Australia or Western Europe.
Is $1 million a lot of net worth?
In the United States $1 million puts you in the top 12% of adults; in the world, the top 1.5%. See is $1 million a lot of net worth in the US? and the same question for the UK, Canada and Australia.
What net worth is top 10% in the US?
About $1.19 million per adult. The top 5% starts at roughly $2.04 million. See how much you need for the top 10% in every country.
How much of the wealth do the top 1% own?
It ranges from 13% in the Netherlands to 56% in South Africa; in the US the top 1% hold 34%. We compare all countries in how much wealth the top 1% own.
Where do I rank?
Type your own net worth into the calculator to see your rank in your country, any of the 77 countries and the world. Nothing you type leaves your browser.