Spending Power Tops In U.S. But Average Income Is Higher In At Least Six Other Countries

People in at least six countries earn more than the average American, but they generally get less for their money, the World Bank says.

For example, the bank said Thursday, the average Swiss earned the equivalent in U.S. dollars of $36,410 last year, the average American $24,750. But when the income was measured against prices in the two countries, the bank found the value of the Swiss income dropped to $23,620.

The World Bank, which collects data on 209 areas, has been publishing income figures for 27 years in its “World Bank Atlas.” The latest edition, published in December, is the first to include comparisons based not only on income but also on what the money will buy.

Citizens of four other countries earn more than Americans, though they can buy less with those incomes: Japan, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Tiny Luxembourg is an oddity. Purchasing power in the grand duchy comes out as $29,510 for each of the 401,000 Luxembourgers, more than for the average American. This may be a statistical quirk due to Luxembourg’s status as a big international financial center. Large sums earned by companies registered in Luxembourg may actually be paid mostly to stockholders in other countries.

Mozambique, in southeast Africa, is listed as the world’s poorest country with an average income of $80 a year. Formerly a Portuguese colony, Mozambique began emerging only in October from a civil war that lasted 15 years.

When prices are taken into account, Ethiopia joins Mozambique at the bottom of the list, with the purchasing power of the average citizen in both countries at $380 a year - about a dollar a day.

Lewis T. Preston, the World Bank’s president, pointed out other indications of the quality of life.

“During the second half of the 20th century … life expectancy in the developing countries has improved more than during the entire previous span of human history,” he wrote in a foreword to the atlas.

The bank noted that gaps between fortunate and unfortunate countries are still wide. In Guinea-Bissau, on Africa’s Atlantic coast, life expectancy is still only 39 years, but in China it is 69 and in Sri Lanka 72.

A baby born in Japan can expect to live for 79 years, and for 78 in Canada, Hong Kong, Iceland, Sweden and Switzerland. The atlas gives a figure of 77 for the United States in 1992. According to the Central Intelligence Agency, the figure is 75.9 years for children born in 1994.