The Economic Priority of the Seven Wealthiest Countries: More Wealth

by Alix Underwood

Almost half of humanity lives below $6.85 per day. This population does not consume goods and services at a rate exceeding Earth’s capacity. Yet here we sit, on the wrong side of six of the nine planetary boundaries identified by the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

How did we get here? Via the economic activity of the other half of humanity. The planet, and all its inhabitants, desperately need this population to slow down. We need the over-consumers to take a deep breath of the fresh air that remains and realize that they lose more than they gain by consuming more. In other words, we need steady statesmanship.

This overconsuming population, of which I am (and probably you are) a member, does not fall neatly into some national borders while the other half of humanity falls into others. However, there exist immense international economic inequalities. And given the toothless nature of global governance institutions, national governments often set the stage for economic priorities. Their mandates and funding trickle down to local governments.

So, starting with the very wealthiest of countries, what are national governments’ economic goals, priorities, and strategies? Are any of them striving for true sustainability: a controlled, equitable slowdown in production and consumption and, ultimately, a steady state economy? Using GDP per capita, in purchasing power parity (PPP) of constant 2021 international dollars, I determined the seven wealthiest countries. I excluded countries with populations below five million. I then explored government agency websites and publicly available long-term economic and development plans.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t take much digging to find “economic growth” listed as a goal, often the central goal of agencies focused on economic affairs. However, there is some tonal and contextual nuance in the ways that governments call for economic growth.

Let’s take a look at the seven wealthiest countries, including information about poverty, unemployment, and extreme wealth within their borders. Unless otherwise linked, statistics come from the World Development Indicators.

7. Denmark

Denmark is the seventh wealthiest country, with a GDP per capita of $72,034. It is the only country on this list with an unemployment rate surpassing five percent. This is reflected in the government’s fiscal policy and resilience plans, which focus heavily on employment. Economic growth is often considered the primary, or the only, avenue to increase employment. However, the global, historical relationship between GDP per capita and employment is shaky.

Regardless, economic growth is not presented in Denmark’s policy documents as a means to the end of higher employment. It is presented as an end in itself. The government aims to “strengthen the foundation for growth and employment” (italics added). It promotes a digital transition to “strengthen welfare, equality, growth, employment and the green transition.” Growth is a standalone goal.

The Ministry of Industry, Business, and Financial Affairs works to ensure “that the Danish business community continues to generate substantial growth.” Humanity would require over 4.5 Earths if everyone lived like a Dane. Therefore, a goal to increase the production and consumption of goods and services (economic growth) is highly inappropriate for Denmark. There are more sustainable ways to increase employment, such as reducing working hours and establishing income ceilings.

6. United States of America

The United States’s GDP per capita is $73,637, and its unemployment rate is 3.6 percent. By the $6.85 per day standard, the U.S. poverty rate has been two percent or lower for decades. However, around 19 percent of the population lives at or below the “societal poverty line.” This relative poverty metric is essentially $2.15 per day (the international poverty line) plus 50 percent of the country’s median income. Societal poverty rate does not appear strongly linked to GDP per capita. The latter has risen steadily over the last three decades while the former has fluctuated around 19 percent.

Nonetheless, the U.S. government remains committed to economic growth at all costs. The Department of the Treasury, the Department of Commerce, and the Economic Development Administration include economic growth in their mission statements. Even the Environmental Protection Agency’s mission mentions the importance of economic growth.

The U.S. lifestyle, if everyone had it, would require almost five Earths. The United States is home to almost 150,000 ultra-high net worth (over $30 million) individuals, more than any other country. With some tax reform, the United States has plenty of wealth to guarantee a minimum income. After all, the ultra-high net worth (UHNW) population’s $17 trillion in cumulative wealth is enough to send a check for $260,000 to every U.S. resident in poverty.

5. United Arab Emirates

The UAE has a GDP per capita of $75,627. It has the lowest unemployment rate of the countries on this list, with over 97% of its labor force employed. The UAE has all but eradicated poverty by international standards. The country has also created favorable conditions for its UHNW population. Though it hasn’t made the top ten in this department, the World Ultra Wealth Report 2023 assures us that the UAE is experiencing strong UHNW growth. This population likely holds much of the responsibility for the UAE’s immense ecological footprint. We would need 5.6 Earths for everyone to live like an Emirati!

According to the country’s leadership, it’s not enough. We the UAE 2031 is the president’s vision for the future. One of the key national indicators of the vision, launched in 2022, is to double the country’s GDP, from AED 1.49 trillion to AED 3 trillion. For context, the UAE’s population is expected to grow by only fifteen percent from 2023 to 2030. In other words, a doubling of the economy is entirely unnecessary.

4. Switzerland

Switzerland’s GDP per capita is $82,914. In 2022, the country was home to 110 billionaires with a collective net worth of $338 billion. This relatively large share of the population (1 in 80,000 people) is attracted to Switzerland by low taxation. Perhaps the country can afford for Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) to modify the first goal listed on its website: “…to contribute to sustained economic growth…”

I did find an official Swiss document—a country report, which SECO was not involved in writing—calling for “environmentally sound economic development within planetary boundaries.” “Development” is an ambiguous word often used synonymously with “growth.” However, it is a step in the right direction, especially when used alongside “planetary boundaries.”

Switzerland has an umbrella organization, economiesuisse, that advocates for the interests of around 100,000 Swiss companies. This organization feels the need to take a defensive posture on their Economic Cycle and Growth webpage: “…economic growth is often demonized and associated with an increasing use of resources.” They ensure their members that “economiesuisse regularly takes a stand on the growth debate…” This acknowledgment of a “growth debate” signals a society awakening from a decades-long growth trance.

3. Norway

Norway has the third-highest GDP per capita, at $90,501. The government’s long-term economic strategy, which emphasizes the renewables transition, is less growth-at-all-costs than many others covered here. The document’s authors even acknowledge that “all power production has environmental consequences” and “the need for increased renewable power production may conflict with the preservation of critical natural values or alternative land uses.” Rather than a reduction in production/consumption, efficiency is lauded as the solution to resource limitations.

Ultimately, Norway’s strategic plan is the same as the others in that it explicitly calls for economic growth. It says this growth must be “achieved within a framework that…reduces greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and loss of nature.” The world has yet to see such a framework, because it is a fairytale unmoored from the basic principles of ecology and ecological economics.

As in the rest of the world, COVID-19 took its toll on Norway’s vulnerable populations. In 2020, 12.6 percent of the population was at or below the national poverty line (which is 18 times higher than the international poverty line). The economic distress experienced by these Norwegians is an issue of distribution, not quantity. This is evident when one considers that Norway’s capital, Oslo, is projected to have the fastest-growing UHNW population of any city on Earth.

2. Ireland

Ireland is one of two countries on this list with a GDP per capita surpassing $100,000, at $115,625. Similarly to Norway, Ireland’s government websites and planning documents don’t exude an “economic growth for the sake of growth is the ultimate goal” message. Project Ireland 2040, the government’s long-term overarching strategy, repeatedly discusses the need for growth. However, growth is almost always couched in the context of the estimated one million additional residents that the country must accommodate from 2016-2040.

Almost one-third of the way through that timeframe, Ireland’s population stood just over five million in 2023, well on its way to the projected 20 percent increase. This high population growth rate, largely driven by immigration, sets Ireland apart from other members of the European Union. The country will indeed need to bolster its job market and develop some new infrastructure to support its new residents.

However, if we take Ireland’s 2023 real GDP (PPP, international dollars) and divide it by the projected population of just over six million, the result is a GDP per capita of almost $97,000. With some creativity and wealth redirection, Ireland does not need to grow its economy to support its influx of migrants.

1. Singapore

The richest country with a population over five million, Singapore has a GDP per capita of $127,544 and an unemployment rate of less than 3.5 percent. The Ministry of Trade and Industry’s vision, laid out in Singapore Economy 2030, is explicitly, unabashedly all about growth. The very purpose of the vision is to guide the country to “chart the next lap of growth.” The landing page for Singapore Economy 2030 contains a little over 200 words of text, and it contains “grow” or “growth” five times and is sprinkled with other growth-related words, such as “widen,” “expand,” “build,” and “increase.”

Unlike Ireland, Singapore’s population is only expected to grow by a few hundred thousand by 2050. So, who is this economic growth for? The thriving and insatiable population of Singaporean billionaires? Home to 54 billionaires in 2022, Singapore ranks thirteenth as a country and eighth as a city in billionaire population size. Amongst these top-ranked cities, Singapore had the highest annual increase in billionaire numbers. This country does not need to—and, from an environmental justice perspective, has no right to—continue to grow its economy.

How to Shift the Narrative

The priorities and strategic plans written into existence by government personnel may seem out of reach. However, to the extent that democracy still has a foothold, they reflect public priorities, stemming from the issues affecting voters and the solutions they perceive as effective.

Your lifestyle speaks volumes about your priorities. However, you could take your steady statesmanship a step further by contacting your representatives (it can actually make a difference) about limits to growth. And of course, as the United States witnessed last week, your vote is the ultimate expression of your political values.

Some local politicians have taken stances against the growth machine. However, federal political candidates who advocate for a steady state economy are yet rare. Nonetheless, as we have seen, even some pro-growth governments acknowledge planetary boundaries. There is nuance in how much they are willing to sacrifice for growth.

The president-elect of the United States, the world’s second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has promised that his administration will pull out all the stops for growth. Trump’s win could mean an additional four billion tonnes of emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.

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Alix Underwood is a Research Associate at CASSE.