Countries by Gross savings (% of GDP)

Ranking 2024

Values shown in %.

Analysis

Gross savings measures the share of economic output retained rather than consumed. According to the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator NY.GNS.ICTR.ZS), savings is an amount that represents the part of disposable income (adjusted for the change in pension entitlements) that is not spent on final consumption. Gross savings are calculated as gross national income less total consumption, plus net transfers. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services. The dataset covers 169 countries, with 161 of 169 (95.3%) reporting data from the last seven years. All 169 datapoints are classified as official-quality figures. The data year is 2024, though 125 of 169 countries (74.0%) report values for the latest year specifically. Fifteen extreme outliers were identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold, and the full range runs from -21.13% to 57.42%, a spread of 371.8%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by hydrocarbon exporters and high-income, trade-oriented economies. Qatar ranks 1st at 57.42%, Kuwait 2nd at 48.80%, and Brunei Darussalam 3rd at 47.65%. Macao SAR, China ranks 4th at 44.94% and Bermuda 5th at 43.04%. China ranks 6th at 42.83%, the highest-placed large economy by population. Norway (rank 8, 40.84%), Singapore (rank 10, 40.28%), and Denmark (rank 17, 35.40%) represent high-income economies with structurally elevated national income relative to consumption. Ireland ranks 20th at 34.86% and South Korea 19th at 35.26%, both reflecting high income relative to domestic consumption.

The middle of the ranking clusters near 20-28%, with much of Europe and Latin America in this range. Germany ranks 55th at 27.14%, the United States ranks 114th at 17.81%, and the United Kingdom ranks 120th at 17.00%. Several lower-income countries appear relatively high: Cambodia ranks 9th at 40.53%, Tanzania 15th at 36.37%, Nepal 16th at 35.84%, and Burundi 31st at 31.45%, all above wealthier nations such as France (rank 89, 21.43%) and Canada (rank 90, 21.38%). At the bottom, Lebanon ranks 168th at -12.70%, Palau 167th at -12.70%, Seychelles 166th at -5.02%, and Yemen 165th at -4.51%, indicating that consumption and transfers exceed gross national income in those economies. Timor-Leste's -21.13% is the lowest recorded value in this dataset.

Several limitations affect the reliability and comparability of this metric. The 74.0% consistency rate for the latest year (2024) means that roughly one in four country values may be interpolated, estimated, or drawn from an earlier period. The 15 extreme outliers flagged at the 3-sigma threshold suggest that some values may reflect unusual accounting, structural distortions such as large remittance inflows, or measurement inconsistencies rather than underlying economic behavior. Negative savings rates can result from humanitarian aid or external transfers inflating consumption relative to recorded national income, which may not represent genuine dissaving by households. Cross-country comparisons are further complicated by differences in pension accounting conventions, as the definition explicitly adjusts for changes in pension entitlements, a treatment that varies across national statistical systems. High savings rates in some small or special-status territories such as Bermuda (rank 5, 43.04%) and Macao SAR, China (rank 4, 44.94%) may reflect the composition of GDP or income flows specific to those jurisdictions rather than household or government saving behavior.

Methodology

Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code NY.GNS.ICTR.ZS, data year 2024. The metric is defined in the source note as follows: savings is an amount that represents the part of disposable income (adjusted for the change in pension entitlements) that is not spent on final consumption. Gross savings are calculated as gross national income less total consumption, plus net transfers. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services. The ranking covers 169 countries. Of these, 161 (95.3%) have data from within the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints carry official-quality classification. The latest reference year (2024) is confirmed for 125 of 169 countries (74.0%). The dataset contains 15 extreme outliers identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. The value range runs from -21.13% (Timor-Leste) to 57.42% (Qatar), a spread of 371.8%. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 29.2%, below the 50% volatility threshold. Higher values indicate a greater share of GDP retained as savings rather than consumed.

Sources

• World Bank