Households in the world got richer by ten percent last year, the Czechs by nine percent

Last year, Czechs ranked 26th in terms of net financial assets per person, ie one notch lower than last year. As in the previous year, the Czechia remained in 28th place in the ranking of gross financial assets.

The average wealth per capita in the Czech Republic last year was 17,497 euros, ie about 472,000 crowns. Gross financial assets include the value of all movable and immovable property of the average citizen, the net value of financial wealth represents all movable and immovable property minus debts.

The average wealth per capita in the Czech Republic last year was 17,497 euros , ie about 472 thousand CZK. The year before, it was 16,785 euros, ie about 38,000 crowns less. The growth rate of net wealth of households in the Czech Republic reached 10.1 percent last year (4.1 percent the year before), gross assets increased by nine percent.

The securities sector grew the most (by 12.8 percent), while finance in bank accounts and insurance grew more slowly (5.8 and 5.6 percent). More than half of the savings of Czech households (50.5 percent) lie in banks, about a third (32.6 percent) are in securities.

The scissors are widening

Czechs remain the richest countries of the former Eastern bloc, they are on average two and a half times richer than Slovaks, where the average wealth per capita last year was 6,778 euros (183,000 crowns).

The best of the countries neighboring the Czech Republic is Austria, the average Austrian has a value of EUR 59,256 (approximately CZK 1.6 million), and the average German a little less (EUR 57,097 or CZK 1.54 million). Poles are about 54,000 CZK per person richer than Slovaks.

In terms of global trends, the study draws attention to the widening financial gap between rich and poor countries and individuals. In 2000, net financial wealth per capita in advanced economies was 87 times higher than in emerging markets. By 2016, that number had dropped to 19, but since then it has risen again to 22 in 2019. About 84 percent of the world's net financial wealth belongs to a tenth of the richest people. Almost half of this property is owned by one percent of them.

Study co-author Patricia Pelayo Romer said, it is quite warning that the gap between rich and poor countries began to widen again even before the world was hit by covid-19.

At the same time, the total number of middle-class members dropped significantly last year, from more than one billion in 2018 to 800 million a year later. Nevertheless, since 2000, the middle class has grown by about half.