Wealth

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see Wealth (disambiguation), Wealthy (disambiguation), Affluence (disambiguation) and Affluent (disambiguation).

Wealth is when someone has a lot of valuable financial assets or physical possessions that they can use to buy things or make trades. This idea comes from an old Old English word. Wealth is important in growth economics and development economics, but what counts as wealth can change. Someone with a lot of wealth is called wealthy. Net worth is what a person owns minus what they owe.

Economists say wealth is "anything of value." This means wealth can mean different things to different people. Thinking about wealth can involve important ethical choices, because many people think getting more wealth is a good goal. A community, area, or country with many helpful resources is also called wealthy.

The United Nations talks about inclusive wealth. This includes natural things like land and forests, energy resources, skills from education, and things people make like machines and buildings.

History

Long ago, around 35,000 years ago, early humans began living in settled groups. They started trading items like tools and food. Those who had many valuable things were seen as wealthy.

Later, thinkers like Adam Smith described wealth as what a land and its people produce each year. Today, wealth often means having lots of valuable things like money, real estate, or personal items. People with more wealth than others are usually called rich or affluent.

Wealth can include things like homes, savings, and investments. It helps people feel secure and can be used for big goals like buying a house or paying for school. Wealth also affects how people are viewed in society. Having wealth can offer protection and opportunities during hard times.

Global amount

Main article: Global debt

The wealth of households around the world adds up to a very large amount. In 2017, this wealth grew quickly. By 2020, the total wealth worldwide had grown even more. China and the U.S. had some of the largest amounts of wealth.

Philosophical analysis

In Western civilization, wealth is often thought of in terms of measuring things. This way of thinking started in ancient Greece. People measured nature, planned for war, and used numbers in economics. The invention of coins and banks was important because it let people measure wealth in gold and money.

Even today, some thinkers like Nietzsche wonder if focusing only on numbers means we miss the true meaning of wealth.

Economic analysis

Main article: Saving

In economics, wealth is all the things a person, family, or country owns, minus what they owe. This can be houses, cars, money, and other valuable items. When we talk about a country's wealth, we look at what it owns compared to what it owes to other countries.

Economists see wealth differently from income. Wealth is what you have at one moment, like the value of a farm on a specific day. Income is what you earn over time, like money from selling crops each year. When people's wealth grows, they might spend more, which can change the whole economy. Thinkers like John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx have studied how wealth is made and measured. Wealth can be measured in today's money or adjusted for price changes. It usually includes things like land and money, but not skills or friendships. Environmental assets, like clean air or forests, are often not included because they are hard to value.

Versus social class

Social class and wealth are related but not the same. Wealth is about the value of what a person or family owns, like their home and money.

In some ideas, classes are split into upper and lower groups. The upper class often tries to keep and pass on their wealth to their children. The middle class sees wealth as a safety net for hard times. Below them, the working class and poor have less wealth.

Distribution

Main articles: Distribution of wealth and List of countries by wealth per adult

In the United States, wealth is not shared equally. Some families have very little wealth, while others have a lot. People with more education often have more wealth. Married couples usually have more wealth than single people.

Across the world, most wealth is found in places like North America, Europe, and parts of Asia. A small group of people hold a large share of all the world's wealth. This means that wealth is often shared unevenly, with some people having much more than others. Some people even owe more money than they own.