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Average global real wealth per capita increased by 21 percent between 1995 and 2020 and converged for most regions but remains unequally distributed.

By 2020, all regions experienced growth in real wealth per capita compared to 1995, with the most significant increases observed in the Middle East and North Africa, where wealth nearly doubled, and in Latin America and the Caribbean, which saw a 66 percent rise (Figure 2). This growth was primarily driven by significant gains in human and produced capital. However, in nominal terms, these regions started from a low base, and their share of global wealth has not seen substantial growth.

In contrast, Sub-Saharan Africa has faced a slowdown in wealth accumulation, with a declining trend in real wealth per capita since 2006, primarily due to the depletion of natural capital assets. By 2020, the region accounted for only 2 percent of global wealth. Meanwhile, 88 percent of global wealth is concentrated in North America, Europe and Central Asia (dominated by the European Union), and East Asia and the Pacific (primarily China and Japan).

While two-thirds of the 151 countries in the sample have increased real wealth per capita between 1995 and 2020, 27 countries show a decline or little change.

Most of the countries experiencing a decline in wealth per capita are in Sub-Saharan Africa (Figure 3), highlighting the unsustainability of their economic progress. This trend reflects a pattern where countries are depleting their asset portfolios at a faster rate than they are replenishing them. A significant factor contributing to this decline is conflict¡ªnearly half of the countries with declining wealth are classified by the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ as affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV).

Trends in real wealth per capita are driven by changes in the asset portfolio relative to population growth, with starkly different trends across asset categories.

The CWON wealth measure is composed of four main asset categories: produced capital, nonrenewable natural capital, renewable natural capital, and human capital. Among these, human capital constitutes the largest share of nominal wealth (Figure 4) and has grown by approximately 9 percent per capita since 1995. Produced capital has shown significant growth, increasing by 47 percent per capita between 1995 and 2020.

In contrast, nonrenewable natural capital has experienced a slight decline per capita during the same period. This category is the most volatile, influenced by changes in resource availability, technological advancements, and price fluctuations. Renewable natural capital, which has the potential to regenerate if sustainably managed, has declined by more than 20 percent per capita over the past 25 years, raising concerns about long-term sustainability.

Renewable natural capital wealth per capita has decreased, with trends varying across regions and assets.

Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa have seen the largest declines in renewable natural capital wealth per capita, at approximately 40 percent, while South Asia has experienced a reduction of about one-third. These declines are primarily driven by population growth and the overexploitation of nearly all renewable natural resources covered in this report, including forests, marine fish stocks, and mangroves. Marine fish stocks have faced the steepest drop, with their value plummeting by over 45 percent since 1995 (Figure 5). Other components of renewable natural capital, such as agricultural land¡ªwhich constitutes 73 percent of its global value¡ªand non-timber forest recreation ecosystem services (12 percent), have also declined, though less dramatically. In contrast, renewable energy from hydropower has increased by 23 percent over the same 25-year period, now representing 7 percent of the total value of renewable natural capital.

Global nonrenewable natural capital, including oil, natural gas, coal, and minerals, declined by 2.5 percent per capita between 1995 and 2020, with a slight increase in oil wealth offset by decreases in coal, natural gas, and minerals.

The low-carbon transition is expected to impact these estimates in the short to medium term. However, significant declines in the value of carbon-intensive fossil fuels¡ªaside from coal¡ªhave not yet materialized. Fossil fuels still account for nearly 60 percent of the global value of nonrenewable natural capital (Figure 6).

Between 1995 and 2020, coal experienced a sharp and consistent decline in wealth per capita, while natural gas showed fluctuations but maintained a relatively higher value than coal. Oil wealth remained stable over this period, contributing 43 percent of the total value of nonrenewable natural capital in 2020, followed by minerals at 36 percent. Natural gas and coal accounted for 14 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

Rapid urbanization and industrialization in high-income and emerging economies have led to substantial growth in produced capital wealth.

Globally, produced capital per capita has increased by an average of 47 percent since 1995, growing faster than population growth in all regions (Figure 7). South Asia experienced remarkable growth, with produced capital per capita expanding nearly 500 percent, though starting from a very low base.

The majority of produced capital assets remain concentrated in North America, Europe, and East Asia, which together account for 94 percent of the global value. These regions have seen steady but comparatively lower growth rates. Sub-Saharan Africa, while achieving a 129 percent increase in produced capital wealth over 25 years, faced rapid population growth, resulting in a modest 17 percent increase in produced capital per capita between 1995 and 2020.

Human capital, which accounted for 60 percent of the world¡¯s total wealth value in 2020, has grown consistently for the past 25 years due to increasing labor force participation and higher returns to education.

The share of human capital in total wealth (in nominal terms) tends to rise as countries advance economically. Globally, real human capital per capita grew by 9 percent between 1995 and 2020, though regional trends vary significantly (Figure 8).

In nominal terms, human capital is predominantly concentrated in high- and upper-middle-income countries, particularly in North America, Europe and Central Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific (Figure 8). These regions have seen modest growth, with increases of 12 percent in North America and 16 percent in East Asia and the Pacific. In contrast, the Middle East and North Africa, along with Latin America and the Caribbean, recorded much larger increases of 82 percent and 62 percent, respectively, though these gains came from a considerably lower base.

As the world mobilizes trillions of dollars to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and transition to a net-zero economy, the provides crucial data, analytical tools and insightful reports to support the sustainable finance infrastructure.

Interest in sustainable finance is growing rapidly. As issuers, investors, regulators and policymakers alike are increasingly aware of nature- and climate-related financial risks, they are also recognizing the material impact of climate change, social inequality and governance risks on economic stability and long-term growth. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations have become central to how sovereign risks are assessed and how national policies are shaped.

Despite this growing awareness, a persistent challenge remains: the lack of consistent, comprehensive and comparable ESG data at the sovereign level hampers the allocation of financial capital according to ESG considerations. The absence of comparable national data¡ªespecially in many developing countries¡ªmake it difficult to form a clear and meaningful picture of a country's sustainability performance.

The Sovereign ESG Data Portal, with support from the Global Program on Sustainability, was designed to bridge this critical data gap and is one of the most frequently used sources for country-level ESG data. It offers a centralized, open-access platform that empowers users to explore, analyze, and learn more about sovereign ESG data. It encompasses almost 200 indicators across 214 economies, spanning over six decades.

For sovereign issuers, this data is vital for demonstrating transparency and attracting sustainable investment. For investors, it provides the analytical foundation to assess the issuing country through an ESG lens, enabling more informed and responsible capital allocation. Lastly, for policymakers, it offers the evidence base needed to design policies that align economic growth with environmental stewardship and social equity.

With ESG considerations now firmly embedded in mainstream sovereign finance, there is growing need for a more holistic approach to evaluate a country's performance ¡ª one that places data at the heart of both economic development and sustainable investment. Through the country profiles on the portal, users can quickly get an overview of a country¡¯s key statistics and sovereign ESG profile. The country profiles also include Land Cover and Wealth Accounting Profiles, which represent the balance sheet of a country and reflect their long-term growth potential based on natural and human capital.

A solid foundation: the Sovereign ESG Data Framework

At the heart of the portal lies a robust and evolving ¡ª a curated set of indicators developed through extensive market research and stakeholder consultations, including input from investors, policymakers, and academics. The framework organizes data across the three core pillars: Environment, Social, and Governance, providing a comprehensive lens through which to assess the sustainability and resilience of national economies.

The environment pillar evaluates how countries manage their natural resources, mitigate environmental risks, and transition toward low-carbon economies. It includes key indicators such as Natural Capital from Wealth Accounting, Tree Cover Loss, Renewable Electricity Output, Total per Capita Greenhouse Gas Emissions and a Food Production Index.

The social pillar captures human development outcomes, investments in human capital and productivity, poverty and inequality, and access to essential services. It includes key indicators such as Access to Electricity, Primary School Enrollment, the Under-5 Mortality Rate, Human Capital from Wealth Accounting, the Poverty Gap, and Prosperity Gap.

The governance pillar reflects the institutional foundations needed for long-term stability, inclusive growth, and poverty reduction. It includes key indicators such as the Economic and Social Rights Performance Score, the Government Effectiveness Estimate, the Research and Development Expenditure Share, and the Control of Corruption Estimate.

All indicators are sourced from reputable international databases that are harmonized to ensure comparability across countries and over time. Most indicators are drawn from the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳¡¯s and the Changing Wealth of Nations data with selected additions from the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳¡¯s and , , the , and . The portal provides metadata and methodological notes for each indicator, enhancing transparency and usability for researchers and practitioners alike.

From Data to Insight: The Portal¡¯s Analytical Tools

Users can interact with each indicator through the , showing the development over time for all economies. The indicators view also allows users to filter the displayed economies based on income groups, geographic regions, and climate classifications. By default, the data is displayed as it appears in the source data. But users can also perform a variety of data transformations: logarithmic to compare data that spans several orders of magnitude, difference and growth to focus on changes over time, or z-score and min-max normalization to detect outliers and compare values across indicators on a common scale.

The Sovereign ESG Data Portal is more than just a data repository - it is an interactive platform designed to help users transform complex ESG data into actionable insights. The portal provides a range of analytical tools for investors, policymakers, and researchers to analyze and compare country performance, uncover patterns, and better interpret and contextualize sovereign ESG dynamics.

The addresses a common challenge in sovereign ESG assessments: the tendency of indicators to favor wealthier countries. Many ESG outcomes¡ªsuch as access to electricity or literacy rate ¡ªcorrelate closely with income levels, making it challenging to evaluate policy performance in lower-income settings.

The income adjustment helps correct the income bias embedded in ESG indicators by adjusting them for GDP per capita, thereby creating a more level basis for comparison. This allows users to identify countries that are performing better or worse than expected relative to their economic context¡ªhighlighting where strong policy or governance is making a difference.

The , offers a simple yet powerful way to compare countries' ESG performance across two selected indicators. While single data points can be informative, relationships between indicators often reveal much more. For example, users might plot Access to electricity (% of population) against the Control of Corruption Estimate to explore how infrastructure expansion and development aligns with governance quality across countries.

Users can plot countries on a two-axis grid, dividing them into four quadrants¡ªshowing combinations of high and low performance across the selected indicators. The visual layout makes it easy to spot peer clusters, outliers, or trade-offs, making this tool especially helpful for benchmarking or thematic analysis.

With the , users can see how a country¡¯s land use is changing over time. Through satellite imagery, sourced from the , the tool tracks year-on-year transitions between different land types¡ªsuch as forests to agriculture or wetlands to settlements¡ªoffering insight into the drivers behind land-use change, deforestation or reforestation.

The , empowers users to combine different aspects of ESG performance into one simple to interpret score. Standard ESG scores often rely on fixed assumptions about which metrics matter most and how they should be weighted. Instead, the ESG Score Builder on the portal offers users the flexibility to choose their own indicators, countries, and to apply aggregation methods that reflect their specific priorities.

Finally, the , is designed to support the growing market for sustainability linked finance. It offers a structured, data-driven framework to assess sustainability performance targets along two key dimensions: feasibility (have peer countries in comparable situations reached a similar target?) and ambitiousness (does the target represent a meaningful improvement beyond a business-as-usual scenario?). The tool helps to visualize the trade-off between feasibility and ambitiousness and allows users to identify a target range that has both.

Extending the Conversation: Outreach Through Stories, Insights, and Publications

Recognizing that data alone is not enough, the Sovereign ESG Data Portal contains a rich collection of data stories, blogs, and publications. At the heart of this outreach are the , which spotlight new indicators and illustrate how ESG considerations can be operationalized in real-world settings. These stories translate complex data into accessible narratives, showing how countries are addressing sustainability challenges and how the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ and other financial market participants provide the funding to do so. The portal also links to from across the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Group, offering timely insights into ESG-related topics. The section connects users to flagship reports and academic background papers that provide deeper context and methodological foundations for the ESG framework.

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