10 ‘Richest’ Countries in the World (With a Huge Caveat)

The world’s richest countries are the ones with the most money, right? Turns out it’s not quite that simple. How do economists determine the richest countries in the world? Do they add up the average annual wage and bank account value of every citizen? Do they calculate the market value of every home, car and corporation? Not exactly. Yuichiro Chino / Getty Images

10 Largest Economies in the World, Ranked by Nominal GDP

The country with the biggest economy isn’t necessarily the richest nation. Often measured by GDP (gross domestic product), the size of an economy is often defined by the total value of all the goods and services produced the borders of a given country. This gives us a nice, round (and often very large) number to stick next to a country’s name, which makes it easy to compare to other countries. traffic_analyzer / Getty Images