How much money is in the world per person: an unexpected calculation by CEIC

Economists often wonder how much money in the world is actually in circulation and how that amount is distributed among the planet’s population. The answer turns out to be far simpler than it might seem. According to the latest data from analytical platforms, if all of the world’s liquid financial assets were divided equally among 8 billion people, everyone would receive roughly the same amount—enough to buy a decent used car or a new Dacia Sandero.

Money Supply M2: what it is and why it determines how much money exists in the world

When we talk about money that truly exists in the global economy, we don’t mean all of the planet’s assets. Instead, we’re referring to a specific metric known as money supply M2. This is an intermediate monetary aggregate that includes cash in circulation, highly liquid bank deposits with maturities of up to two years, savings accounts, and money market instruments. In essence, money supply M2 represents all those financial resources that can be obtained relatively quickly if the need arises.

An important point: money supply M2 is significantly different from total global wealth, which includes real estate, securities, and other assets. Those assets may have huge value, but they can’t be quickly exchanged for cash. That’s why economists use M2—not the overall prosperity of humankind—when calculating a fair distribution.

The global calculation: $15 thousand per person

According to the analytical platform CEIC, in 2024 the world’s money supply M2 totaled 123.313 trillion dollars. The world population on the same date was 8.161973 billion people. A simple division of these figures yields a striking result: each resident of Earth would receive 15.108 dollars or about 13.944 euros at the current exchange rate.

What does such a sum mean in practical terms? According to calculations by VisualCapitalist, it’s equivalent to the average annual spending of a typical European family, the cost of a reliable used car, or enough to buy a new Dacia Sandero in the base trim. Another way to look at it is that this amount is roughly comparable to the average spending of a typical household over two years.

Of course, this calculation is purely theoretical. In reality, money is distributed extremely unevenly. But the figure clearly demonstrates the scale of the global monetary base and helps explain why economic growth in some countries can seriously affect financial conditions across the rest of the world.

The difference between money supply and wealth

According to the “Global Wealth Report 2024” from the Swiss bank UBS, total net private wealth in the world in 2024 reached $487.9 trillion. This figure is four times greater than money supply M2. The gap is enormous: wealth includes everything—from stocks and bonds to land plots and art collections. But not all of these assets can be quickly converted into cash. That’s why money supply M2 remains a more representative indicator for analyzing the current state of the financial system.

Western Europe leads: the case of Spain

An interesting observation can be made if you apply the same calculation method to individual countries and regions. Spain is a great example of a developed European economy. According to CEIC data for December 2024, Spain’s money supply M2 was $1.647611 trillion. Meanwhile, Spain’s population, according to the national statistics agency INE for January 2025, was 49.077984 million people.

If all of Spain’s financial resources were distributed equally among its residents, each Spaniard would receive $33.571 or about 30.968 euros. That’s 2.5 times more than in the global calculation! Such a difference reflects a more developed financial system, a higher level of insolvency, and, as a result, a larger amount of money in circulation per capita compared with the global average.

These calculations show how unevenly financial resources are distributed. While in developed countries money supply per person is substantially higher than the global average, in many developing countries the situation is directly the opposite. This is one of the fundamental reasons for economic inequality in the world, and it explains why money supply M2 remains such an important metric for economists and investors analyzing the health of the global financial system.