We are the one percent

[turtlefield76]

I'm not sure that has been posted before but if it hasn't this website lets you see how your income stacks up against the rest of the world:

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

Turns out if you make $50k a year that puts you in the top 1% of the world.  Good for a little perspective.  Just being born in the first world gives us access to capital that most of the world can only dream about. 

[sol]

Interestingly, that website plateaus for incomes above 200k/year.  If you're in that top 0.001%, it won't give you a higher ranking than 107,565th richest person in the world.

Which just doesn't sound right to me.  Does anyone else think there are only 107,000 people in the world who make more than $200k/year?

[arebelspy]

Does anyone else think there are only 107,000 people in the world who make more than $200k/year?

No.  So I googled it.

As of 2007, there were 4.5 million people in the US alone that made over 200k. 

Even if you think that number has gone down because of the recession (which I doubt), that's not counting the rest of the world and is still far, far above 107,000.

[destron]

It is not really that interesting to point out since $50,000/year (although still a lot) will not get you nearly as far in the US as it will in China/India/Bangladesh/Brazil.

[velocistar237]

Besides the clipping that sol noticed, the distribution accounts for purchasing power parity, but they don't adjust your input value. I suppose you could apply some scale factor to figure out a more accurate position.

[keith]

Does anyone else think there are only 107,000 people in the world who make more than $200k/year?

No.  So I googled it.

As of 2007, there were 4.5 million people in the US alone that made over 200k. 

Even if you think that number has gone down because of the recession (which I doubt), that's not counting the rest of the world and is still far, far above 107,000.

The data on their page is about 10-20 years old. See the references on one of the links at the bottom. That probably has a lot to do with it.

[turtlefield76]

you guys are right.  the data they used for that website is pretty old.  but it did get me thinking about what the number is now.  i couldn't find a breakdown by PPP adjusted dollar so i tried a little digging.  not sure if this logic/math holds up but here goes:

world bank's world GDP PPP adjusted:  80,855billion
world population in 2012 (est.):  7billion
that gives you 11,550 per person
multiply by 100 for an imaginary world of 100 people:  1,115,000
this is where i couldn't find any good data in terms of the distribution curve of this imaginary 1,115,000 by the 100 people who live on this world.  so i used the global rich lists distribution tables which say that the top 1% of the world holds 9.5% of the wealth.  don't know how accurate that is today but if you multiply 1,115,000 by .095 you get: $105,925 in PPP adjust dollars. 

that seems like a more realistic number.  but i'm probably doing something wrong in this estimate. 

[sol]

so i used the global rich lists distribution tables which say that the top 1% of the world holds 9.5% of the wealth.

More recent numbers suggest the top 1% now hold closer to 35% of the world's wealth.

[turtlefield76]

hey sol:

do you have the full breakdown you can link me to?  i couldn't find those current numbers in terms of world wide wealth distribution only US. 

[sol]

do you have the full breakdown you can link me to?  i couldn't find those current numbers in terms of world wide wealth distribution only US.

You might start with the references listed here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_of_wealth

[grantmeaname]

But wealth != income, and this is an income calculator.

[MrSaturday]

There's more recent data available, apparently from 2005.  Now the top 1% in the world is making $34k per year per person, after taxes.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/04/news/economy/world_richest/index.htm

And, yes, Milanovic's numbers are adjusted to account for different costs of living across the globe.

[arebelspy]

Thanks for the update MrSaturday.  More accurate numbers are nice.

As a teacher with a Master's degree in the richest country in the world, I barely crack that 1% number, but still do. 

I don't see how that can account for different costs of living though.  I don't see how one would without making different allowances for not only different countries, but different parts of the country.  My 40k-ish is very different in Vegas from New York from Bangladesh.

[MrSaturday]

My guess is that the $34k figure is only valid for Americans, and a Bangladeshi would have their own 1% figure that's adjusted for cost of living rather than exchange rate.

[arebelspy]

My guess is that the $34k figure is only valid for Americans, and a Bangladeshi would have their own 1% figure that's adjusted for cost of living rather than exchange rate.

And how would they show that figure?  Based on IP address?

[turtlefield76]

There's more recent data available, apparently from 2005.  Now the top 1% in the world is making $34k per year per person, after taxes.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/04/news/economy/world_richest/index.htm

And, yes, Milanovic's numbers are adjusted to account for different costs of living across the globe.

nice!  thanks for that article.  i'll track down Milanovic's book. 

[MrSaturday]

My guess is that the $34k figure is only valid for Americans, and a Bangladeshi would have their own 1% figure that's adjusted for cost of living rather than exchange rate.

And how would they show that figure?  Based on IP address?

That figure is from a CNN article targeted at US readers.  If the book had a table of localized 1% thresholds it wouldn't be unusual for them to pick out the one that would interest its audience.  Or knowing CNN it could be a complete misinterpretation of Milanovic's data.

Maybe turtlefield76 can explain if he finds a copy of the book.