The FiatMap Money Score

Name: The FiatMap Money Score (76 countries)
Creator: Fiatmap
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Every ranking of countries by wealth measures what a country has. This one measures what a person gets: what a wage buys after local prices, whether it holds its value, whether you can be hired into it, and how much of the year is yours.

South Korea leads on 81.1, Angola is last on 9.1. Five factors, 76 countries, every weight and every rank published below — the score is reproducible from figures already on this site.

How it is calculated

Each country is ranked against the others on each factor, and its position — not its raw value — earns points. A rank is used rather than a scale because one hyperinflation reading would otherwise compress every other country's inflation factor to a rounding error.

The five factors and what each is worth
Factor	Why it is in a score about money	Points
What a wage buys	Median monthly earnings, already adjusted for what things cost locally.	40
Whether it holds value	What money saved at the start of the century is worth now.	20
Whether it is holding now	Distance from a 2 % target — deflation counts against, not for.	15
Whether you can get it	A high wage you cannot be hired into is not a high wage.	15
How much of the year is yours	Paid public holidays — time is the other thing a wage buys.	10

A country missing any one of the five is not scored at all. That is why 76 countries appear here and not 128: an index built from four factors for one country and five for another is not a ranking, and the difference would be invisible in the table.

The ranking

FiatMap Money Score · computed from live atlas data
#	Country	Score	What stands out
1	South Korea	81.1	Strong on whether it is holding now — 2 of 76
2	Malta	80.9	Strong on whether it is holding now — 10 of 76
3	Germany	79.8	Strong on whether it is holding now — 4 of 76
4	Denmark	78.4	Strong on whether it is holding now — 5 of 76
5	Slovenia	78.3	Strong on whether it is holding now — 11 of 76
6	Luxembourg	77.7	Strong on what a wage buys — 1 of 76
7	Ireland	76.4	Strong on whether it is holding now — 6 of 76
8	Belgium	76.2	Strong on what a wage buys — 2 of 76
9	Norway	75.3	Strong on what a wage buys — 5 of 76
10	Japan	75.1	Strong on whether it holds value — 1 of 76
11	Netherlands	74.7	Strong on what a wage buys — 3 of 76
12	Austria	74.5	Strong on what a wage buys — 4 of 76
13	Italy	73	Strong on whether it holds value — 10 of 76
14	Singapore	72.7	Strong on whether it holds value — 6 of 76
15	United States	72.4	Strong on what a wage buys — 8 of 76
16	Cyprus	71.3	Strong on whether it holds value — 4 of 76
17	Finland	70.1	Strong on whether it holds value — 5 of 76
18	Sweden	68.5	Strong on whether it holds value — 8 of 76
19	Czech Republic	68	Strong on whether it is holding now — 12 of 76
20	Switzerland	67.6	Weak on how much of the year is yours — 75 of 76
21	Canada	66.1	Strong on whether it is holding now — 1 of 76
22	Poland	64.4	Strong on whether you can get it — 15 of 76
23	Croatia	63.3	middling on all five
24	Spain	62	Weak on whether you can get it — 70 of 76
25	Greece	61.1	Weak on whether you can get it — 64 of 76
26	New Zealand	60.7	Strong on whether it is holding now — 21 of 76
27	Portugal	60.4	Strong on whether it is holding now — 8 of 76
28	Latvia	58.7	Strong on how much of the year is yours — 1 of 76
29	Lithuania	58.7	Strong on what a wage buys — 22 of 76
30	United Kingdom	58.4	Weak on how much of the year is yours — 74 of 76
31	Australia	58.1	Weak on how much of the year is yours — 72 of 76
32	France	57.9	Strong on whether it holds value — 3 of 76
33	Bulgaria	56.3	Strong on how much of the year is yours — 15 of 76
34	Cambodia	52.8	Strong on whether you can get it — 1 of 76
35	Philippines	51.6	Strong on how much of the year is yours — 5 of 76
36	El Salvador	50.1	Strong on how much of the year is yours — 2 of 76
37	Hungary	49.5	middling on all five
38	Estonia	49.3	Weak on whether you can get it — 61 of 76
39	Slovakia	49.1	middling on all five
40	Peru	48.2	Strong on how much of the year is yours — 8 of 76
41	Guatemala	47.7	Strong on whether you can get it — 8 of 76
42	China	46	Weak on how much of the year is yours — 72 of 76
43	Panama	45.9	Strong on whether it holds value — 13 of 76
44	Chile	45.7	Weak on whether you can get it — 66 of 76
45	Romania	44.9	Strong on how much of the year is yours — 8 of 76
46	Russia	44.4	Strong on whether you can get it — 5 of 76
47	Ecuador	42.4	Strong on whether you can get it — 21 of 76
48	Vietnam	42.2	Weak on how much of the year is yours — 75 of 76
49	Tanzania	41.6	Strong on whether you can get it — 4 of 76
50	Bahamas	38.3	Weak on whether you can get it — 67 of 76
51	Dominican Republic	38.2	Weak on whether it holds value — 62 of 76
52	Mexico	37.6	Weak on how much of the year is yours — 69 of 76
53	Moldova	37.2	Strong on whether you can get it — 2 of 76
54	Kazakhstan	36.9	Weak on whether it holds value — 67 of 76
55	Bolivia	36.8	Weak on whether it is holding now — 73 of 76
56	Uruguay	36.3	Weak on whether it holds value — 64 of 76
57	Indonesia	36.2	Strong on whether it is holding now — 3 of 76
58	Armenia	35.6	Weak on whether you can get it — 74 of 76
59	Colombia	35.6	Strong on how much of the year is yours — 4 of 76
60	Costa Rica	35.1	Weak on whether it is holding now — 59 of 76
61	Brazil	34.2	Weak on whether it holds value — 57 of 76
62	Botswana	33.9	Weak on whether you can get it — 76 of 76
63	Mongolia	31	Weak on whether it holds value — 66 of 76
64	Turkey	30.5	Weak on whether it is holding now — 76 of 76
65	Georgia	29.4	Weak on whether you can get it — 73 of 76
66	Guyana	28.8	Weak on whether you can get it — 72 of 76
67	Honduras	28.6	Weak on what a wage buys — 64 of 76
68	Ukraine	24.3	Weak on whether it holds value — 69 of 76
69	Zambia	20.7	Weak on whether it holds value — 71 of 76
70	Ghana	19.5	Weak on whether it holds value — 74 of 76
71	Bangladesh	19.4	Weak on what a wage buys — 72 of 76
72	Ethiopia	16.1	Weak on what a wage buys — 74 of 76
73	Nigeria	15.7	Weak on what a wage buys — 75 of 76
74	Rwanda	13.6	Weak on what a wage buys — 76 of 76
75	Egypt	11.9	Weak on whether it is holding now — 71 of 76
76	Angola	9.1	Weak on whether it holds value — 76 of 76

What it does not measure

Housing, electricity, fuel and personal tax are missing, and their absence is a coverage problem rather than a judgement: rent is published for none of the 128 countries on this atlas, fuel for 27, electricity for 33. A seven-factor version of this score would cover twenty-one countries. When those series widen, the factors go in and the change is recorded here.

It also says nothing about healthcare, safety, climate or whether you would want to live anywhere on this list. It is a score about money.

Average earnings, ranked →Every field, country by country →

Computed by Fiatmap from the fields on this site, each of which carries its own source and observation date on its country page. The formula above is the whole method — rank each country per factor, weight, sum. Reuse it with attribution.