How many centuries does the average Colombian have to work to earn their first million dollars?

How many manage to earn their first million dollars in their lifetime? Every day, millions of people around the world get up to work to earn the income they need to meet their needs and, hopefully, treat themselves. Most receive low wages for their work, so saving to buy a home or a car takes many years, and they can hardly dream of earning a million dollars.

Well, the online shopping portal, picodi.com, analyzed how many years it takes to earn a million dollars for people living in different countries and earning the national average salary.

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To calculate the ranking of the 102 countries analyzed, Picodi included all net payments received by an average employee. The results reveal that, even in the top-ranked country, it will take that employee more than 14 years.

Switzerland came first in the ranking

The country where an employee earning the national average salary will earn his first million dollars the fastest is Switzerland. There, it will take 14 years and 3 months. Although this may seem like a long time, it is actually not bad when you consider that in the last country in the ranking, Pakistan, it takes the average citizen 621 years and 3 months (!).

The second-ranked country is Singapore, with 16 years and 11 months. In third place is Luxembourg, where the average employee will take 17 years and 4 months to earn his or her first million. Rounding out the top five in the ranking are the United States, with 19 years and 10 months, and Iceland, with 20 years and 11 months.

Colombians take several centuries to earn their first million dollars

Colombia ranked 93rd in the ranking. A worker earning the national average salary must work 287 years and 4 months to earn his “first” million dollars.

This means, in practice, that a worker with the national average salary will not be able to earn a million dollars in the course of his life, even if he worked from the first day of his birth until the day of his death.

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Of the Latin American countries included in the ranking, Colombia obtained the worst result. Brazilians, for example, take 76 years less than Colombians (82nd place and 211 years), and Peruvians 86 years less (78th place and 201 years and 8 months). However, in neither case is life long enough to receive the coveted million dollars.

Countries where it takes more than 500 years to earn the “first” million dollars

In the last four countries in the ranking an average worker takes more than 500 years to earn a million dollars. These are Nigeria (519 years and 1 month), Uganda (523 years and 3 months), Egypt (603 years and 6 months) and Pakistan (621 years and 3 months).

Study methodology

The data on average net salary, i.e. after deduction of taxes and mandatory contributions, were obtained from the Numbeo platform, where thousands of users from all over the world complete salary surveys.

To convert the currencies used in the countries analyzed, Picodi used average exchange rates from March of this year, according to Google Finance.

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