How do you define rich: currently Finland has higher GDP per capita than Germany, France and the UK... and well Norway is well ahead of the most West Europe (lots to do with the oil but still).
For example, Finland has very low amount of capital. GDP is the revenue stream. Amount of capital reflects actual wealth and potential for return of investments.
If you use 'national capital' as a measure then Norway is by far the richest country. It's sovereign wealth fund has more than 1.3 trillion dollars, and owns "about a 1.4% stake in all the world’s public listed companies."[1]
I don't think many Norwegians would say they feel like they're the richest people on Earth though.
EDIT: According to Wikipedia the wealth fund is worth 2.3 trillion now. That's for a country with a population of 5 million people.
Comments like this is why people ignore economists when it comes to personal finance.
Macroeconomics is so difficult to grasp for me and feels so far away from anything that is remotely related to my life that just talking about it feels silly.
The amount of capital in the US or even my state feels like completely divorced from whether I feel comfortable having children and raising a family (I don't at all).
Sure! But when the question is "Is country x rich or poor" it's hard to gauge it any other way than using macroeconomics.
"How would you feel living in country X" and "how does a person in a similiar position as myself feel living in country X" is quite personal question and probably quite detached from macroeconomics unless comparing countries with wildly different GDP:s.
