The World's Richest Country Ranks Eighth on Median Wealth

Switzerland is the richest country in the world. Its typical adult has been getting poorer for twenty-five years.

UBS’s Global Wealth Report 2026, published 2026-06-30, puts average wealth per Swiss adult at USD 910,382 at end-2025 — first in the world, well ahead of the United States at USD 696,277. The median Swiss adult holds USD 145,555, which ranks only eighth. Luxembourg tops that table at USD 394,005, followed by Belgium at USD 277,166 and Australia at USD 210,783.

Mean wealth per Swiss adult now runs 6.3 times the median, and the two figures have moved in opposite directions. Between 2000 and 2025, the average rose just over 11% in real terms while the median fell nearly 15%, per SWI swissinfo.ch’s 2026-06-30 reporting on the UBS data.

What explains the gap

Debt is part of it. Swiss household borrowing runs at 20.5% of gross wealth, among the highest of the 56 markets UBS covers (finews.com, 2026-06-30), and both wealth figures above are measured net of it.

Currency explains part of the average’s jump, but not the gap itself. The franc gained roughly 14% against the dollar in 2025, so much of that year’s dollar-terms rise is translation, not accumulation. It can’t be behind the average-median split, though: a stronger franc lifts both figures alike.

What this doesn’t show: UBS frames the debt ratio as the reason for the gap, but the report states the borrowing figure and the net-of-debt point only — not how much of the median’s 25-year decline debt actually accounts for.