The US has the most billionaires in the world – but here's what it doesn't have
It’s official: America has the most billionaires in the world, for yet another year. The US increased its share of billionaires by 12% in 2019 according to a report by Wealth-X, which annually takes stock on the world’s mega-rich.
But while US billionaires are waiting to find out whether Kim “I have 14 Freesian [sic] horses” Kardashian West will join their ranks this year, the rest of us have more important questions on our minds, such as: has any of this wealth trickled down yet?
The answer is no. One in eight Americans still live below the poverty line, and 40% are one paycheque away from destitution. In fact, there are a lot of basic services that other similarly wealthy countries provide as a minimum that just aren’t given to Americans.
Free college tuition
In the US, if you want to be college-educated, you have to be rich – or willing to take on a huge amount of personal debt. College tuition fees range from around $10,000–$40,000 a year depending on whether they are state or private, with education at the country’s top institutions usually charging over $50,000.
By comparison, in much of the rest of the developed world, college tuition is either free or affordable. In places like Germany, Poland and Sweden, tuition is even free for citizens. In Norway, college education is also free for international students and in Denmark, students are paid to go to college.
It’s not just Europe: college tuition fees are also a fraction of the price in countries across the world, from Mexico to Australia to New Zealand. In fact, according to an OECD report from 2017, the US has the highest tuition fees of any country in the world.
Paid vacation
In the absence of a national paid leave policy, it is up to companies to provide paid leave to its employees. That means that almost one in four Americans go without a vacation every year. It is worth noting that the US is the only wealthy economy in the world without a paid vacation policy
Paid parental leave and daycare
In countries around the world, parents are entitled to take time off after having a child. Across Europe, paid parental leave is the norm. In New Zealand, paid parental leave lasts 26 weeks. In the UK, parents get 37 weeks of paid leave and can opt to take a further 13 weeks of unpaid leave after that.
Paid leave varies greatly from country to country: in some places, parents receive the equivalent of their full salary while on parental leave; in others, a flat rate is provided that varies from a few hundred dollars a month to more than $1,000, and sometimes the rate changes over time. But most aren’t dependent on their employer (or family wealth) to get by if they have a baby.
Meanwhile, in the US, there is no national policy of paid parental leave. The only states with an active parental leave policy are California, New Jersey and Rhode Island. American parents are entitled to 12 weeks’ unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (although many parents don’t qualify for this).
And when parents go back to work, putting a child in full-time daycare can cost up to tens of thousands a year.
Universal healthcare coverage
Americans live shorter lives than people in other similarly wealthy countries. Meanwhile, the US spends nearly twice as much on healthcare as the average OECD country – but with the lowest life expectancy and highest suicide rates among the 11 nations, it’s not clear where that money is going.
Year after year, while the US continues to spend the most on healthcare in comparison to high-income countries, it continuously ranks last when it comes to measures such as healthcare quality, accessibility and equity.
An inhospitable climate for billionaires
Obviously the US is a place where billionaires can thrive, meanwhile a number of countries manage to get by with just a handful of billionaires. Finland, the happiest country in the world, has just six billionaires. Japan, the country with the second-longest lifespan in the world and the third-highest GDP, has just 26 billionaires. The UK, which is by no means the most egalitarian country in the world, has a paltry 45 billionaires. All three still manage to provide free healthcare.
