According to a new research report, China has surpassed the US to become the richest nation in the world. The report is authored by the research wing of McKinsey & Co which stated that the global wealth had tripled over the last two decades, from $156 trillion in the year 2000 to $514 trillion in 2020.
China has accounted for almost one-third of the staggering rise in global wealth, according to the report, surging from $7 trillion in the year 2000 to $120 trillion in 2020. The data tracks the period from one year before the country became a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which speeded up the rise of its economy.
The national balance sheets of 10 countries have been analysed which accounted for over 60 percent of the world’s income. Apart from China and the US, Germany, France, UK, Japan, Sweden, Mexico, Canada and Australia are the other countries included in the report.
As far as the US is concerned, the net worth increased to almost $90 trillion in two decades. In both the US and China, the two biggest global economies, more than two-thirds of the wealth is concentrated in just 10 percent of the richest households. About 68 percent of the global net worth is stored in real estate, as per the report.
However, the report further points out that the debt of Chinese property developers such as the Evergrande Group can lead the country into a similar crisis. The Evergrande Group has recently been struggling with over $300 billion in liabilities, igniting fears worldwide of a global financial crisis. The company is the most indebted of China’s private homebuilders.
Recently, another Chinese real estate company, Fantasia Holdings, failed to repay a loan worth $205.7 million, according to news reports.
