By the year 2020, Macau is set to dethrone Qatar to become the place with the highest per-capita gross domestic product. This would make Asia’s casino capital the richest place on the planet.
Freshly-released data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that two years is all Macau needs to overtake Qatar, which is famously rich in oil, in order to become the area with the highest GDP on the earth.
At the end of July the IMF released its World Economic Outlook Update, which predicts that Macau will continue to grow exponentially and in a short amount of time, surpass Qatar’s wealth.
For this year, Qatar is still in first place, with a US$ 128,702 per capita GDP. The per capita of the next countries in line are as follows.
Macau, in second place, US$ 122,489 per capita GDP
Luxembourg, in third place, US$ 110,870 per capita GDP
Singapore, in fourth place, US$ 98,014 per capita GDP
But, judging from how quickly Macau’s economy is growing and expanding, by 2020 it is expected to lead the world with US$ 143,116 per capita, ahead of Qatar, which ethe IMF predicts will only have a US$ 139,151 GDP.
The IMF predicts that Macau will see sustained growth at least until 2023. This, however, does not ensure that its residents will enjoy a high quality of life. According to Sérgio Almeida Correia, a social commentator and lawyer from Macau, “In terms of quality of life, green areas, pollution, education, health, sport, renewable energies, recycling of urban waste, hygiene and cleanliness of public spaces, accessibility for disabled people, road cycling, public transport might not rank quite as high by any means.”
Another distinction the tiny SAR holds is that it is the most densely populated place on the earth, reported by the United Nations. Its population is at more than 650,000 residents, while it only has 30.8 square kilometers in all. This translates to 21,322 people for every square kilometer of Macau.