How Rich Are You, Compared to the World?

weirdly accurate.

    How Rich Are You, Compared to the World?

    Am I rich compared to the rest of the world?

    This test answers “how rich am I compared to the world?” in two steps: first you guess where you stand in a queue of everyone on Earth, poorest first, then the page works out your real place from your household’s take-home income and the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform data for 2024. The guess comes first on purpose. Economists who have compared people’s sense of their own income rank with the records, in Argentina and in Denmark, found that the two often disagree.

    The test follows the economist Jan Pen’s 1971 parade, in which everyone marches past in one hour, poorest first, each as tall as their income. First you drag a marker to where you think you stand in a queue of 1,000 figures, each a thousandth of humanity. Then you pick your country and household size and dial in your take-home income. The page converts it step by step: per person and per day, back to 2021 prices with the country’s consumer price index, then into 2021 purchasing-power-parity dollars. Your place is read off the World Bank’s shares of the world below 88 daily income lines, from $0.25 to $1,500. A guess within 5 percentage points of the truth counts as right.

    It is a comparison of living standards, not financial advice or a measure of anyone’s worth. The national surveys behind it measure income in some countries and consumption in others, and they divide a household’s total equally among everyone in it, with no allowance for sharing a roof. They also miss the very richest, so above $1,500 a day the page can only say “at least”. Prices since a country’s latest consumer price figures are not adjusted, and 44 countries and territories without usable data cannot be chosen yet.

    What the test measures

    One thing: where your household’s living standard puts you among everyone on Earth.

    The task

    • Guess your place in a queue of 1,000 figures, poorest first, each a thousandth of the world’s 8.1 billion people
    • Choose your country (174 countries, covering 94.8% of the world’s population) and how many people live on your household’s income
    • Dial in take-home income per month or per year on a digit-drum counter

    Your result

    • Your world percentile, and how far off your guess was
    • Your income in 2021 international dollars per person per day, with every conversion step shown
    • Your place within your own country, where the country has its own survey data
    • Reference points: the World Bank’s 2025 poverty lines of $3.00, $4.20 and $8.30 a day with the share of the world below each, the world median and average, and the middle person in ten countries
    • Everyday terms: the minute you would pass in Pen’s one-hour parade, and how many people are poorer than you
    • A share card and a challenge link that carries only how far off your guess was

    Before you start

    • About two minutes, three steps
    • A rough figure for your household’s take-home income is enough
    • Free, no sign-up. Your income stays on your device and is not sent anywhere

    Questions about global income

    Is this test free? Do I need to sign up to see my result?

    Yes, it’s free, and there’s nothing to sign up for: no account, no email, no payment. Your result appears on this page the moment you finish, and you can share it or play again straight away.

    How rich am I compared to the world?

    Guess first, and this test then shows you. Drag a marker to where you think you stand in a queue of 1,000 figures, dial in your household’s take-home income, and the page reads your world percentile off World Bank data for 174 countries, in 2021 purchasing-power dollars per person per day. The world median and average, and the share of people below each poverty line, appear on the result sheet beside your own place.

    Do people know where they stand on the income ladder?

    Not reliably, which is why this test takes your guess before it shows your real place. Two studies compared people’s sense of their own income rank with the facts: Cruces, Perez-Truglia and Tetaz surveyed about 1,100 households in Greater Buenos Aires in 2009, and Hvidberg, Kreiner and Stantcheva checked Danes’ answers against tax records. What they found, and why it happens, is on the result sheet once you have guessed.

    What does adjusted for purchasing power parity mean?

    Purchasing power parity (PPP) converts money by what it buys rather than by exchange rates. A haircut, a bus ride or a kilo of rice costs far less in some countries than in others, so the World Bank’s 2021 PPPs say how much local money buys what $1 bought in the United States. Every amount in this test is in those international dollars at 2021 prices.

    Does the World Bank measure income or spending?

    Both, depending on the country. The World Bank uses whatever each national household survey measures: most rich countries and Latin America ask about income after tax, while most of Africa and Asia ask what households consume, including food they grow themselves. The figure is per person, with the household total divided among everyone in it, children included.

    How accurate is my world income percentile?

    Good enough for a rough place in the queue, not for decimals. Household surveys under-count the very richest, prices after a country’s latest consumer price figures are not adjusted, and in countries where prices have more than doubled since 2021 the page warns that the conversion is rough. Above $1,500 a day it can only say “at least”.

    Is the income I enter stored or shared?

    No. The income you enter stays on your device and is not sent anywhere. A challenge link carries only how far off your guess was, not your income, your rank or your country.

    Where the numbers come from

    Your percentile is read from the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform (release 20260922, 2021 PPPs, reporting year 2024): the shares of the world’s 8.14 billion people below 88 daily lines, interpolated, and the same for each country. Prices since 2021 use each country’s consumer price index. The median, average and poverty-line shares are our tabulation of that data. The site does not publish its own players’ data.

    How the conversion works

    Per person per day

    Household take-home income per year (or per month × 12), divided by the number of people it supports, divided by 365.

    2021 PPP dollars

    The amount is brought back to 2021 prices with the country’s consumer price index, then divided by the World Bank’s 2021 purchasing power parity, so a dollar buys the same basket everywhere.

    Percentile

    The share of the world, or of your country, living on less than your daily amount, interpolated between the World Bank’s 88 income lines.